Around the Borough

James Rada Jr.
News Correspondent

(Sept, 2010) The Carroll Valley Borough Council does not believe it has the authority to provide partial relief to disabled veterans, but it is willing to look into the issue.

During the August 10 borough meeting, resident Thomas Fitzsimmons followed up on a letter he had sent the council asking the members to consider providing property tax relief to disabled veterans who live in the borough. A program currently exists to eliminate property taxes for veterans in Pennsylvania who are 100 percent permanently disable, were honorably discharged and received their injuries during a declared war.

However, Borough Secretary Gayle Mathers told the council that there is no method for scaling how much property tax is forgiven. "It’s an all or nothing program," she said.

It is also a program that veterans have to apply for and it is at the county’s discretion to make an eligibility determination.

Fitzsimmons said he was seeking a way to "give relief to those who do not meet the state requirement."

Borough Manager Dave Hazlett pointed out that even if all of the borough property tax was forgiven, it does not mean that that school board and county would follow suit. There was also a question about whether the borough had the authority to enact such a program.

The councilmen told Fitzsimmons that they would look into the issue and see what their options were.

Lake Carroll closed to boating … for now

The borough and residents who own property around Lake Carroll in Carroll Valley have started meeting to try and resolve their differences. Residents who own property on the lake don’t want boating allowed because of liability issues. The borough, however, is a property owner on the lake and wants to allow boating to make the policy consistent with Lake Kay and Lake May.

The sign prohibiting public boating had been taken down, but the councilmen decided that until the issue was decided, they would prohibit public boating on the lake.

Borough appealing 98 lot reassessments

Carroll Valley Borough is appealing the reassessment on 98 borough-owned lots and potentially will appeal even more.

Hazlett said the 98 lots represent "every single property that the borough owns that is not tax exempt." He also told the council that he expected to appeal the reassessments of the rest of the borough-owned lots, those that are tax-exempt, in the future, but it wasn’t a pressing issue at the moment. The borough currently owns about 240 lots within the borough limits.