Unity supervisors approve fire tax hike

A hike in Unity's fire tax next year, from 1 mill to 2 mills, will add about $20 to the average township property owner's bill.

But officials say the township's eight volunteer fire departments need extra funds to meet rising costs and note it would cost millions to instead employ and equip paid firefighters.

Newly elected Supervisor Ed Poponick, who was appointed to begin his term early, joined John Mylant and Tom Ulishney Wednesday in approving the tax hike and a final $5.8 million 2018 budget. The township's separate property tax for general purposes will remain at 2.2 mills.

Each mill of the fire tax will generate about $270,000 for the volunteer departments and a township fire bureau that maintains additional firefighting equipment, supervisors have said. They've noted each of the companies, on average, faces annual operating costs of $100,000.

Supervisors have considered the tax hike since 2016 but weren't ready to approve it under the 2017 budget, Mylant said. “We just put it off a year,” he said.

He noted senior citizens who meet income guidelines may be able to lessen the impact of the hike by applying for a tax rebate.

“It's something we have to do,” Ulishney said of the tax hike. He said the local departments are “tight with their budgets, (but) with the costs, everything keeps going up. They're just not going to make ends meet.”

Firefighters have said the additional financial support from the township will allow them to concentrate more on training, recruitment and retention of members and less on fundraising.

Pete Tenerowicz, Unity's emergency management director and treasurer of the fire bureau, said the 1-mill fire tax, in place since 2004, has helped cover training costs for a successful junior firefighter program that now has 34 young volunteers enrolled.

Paul McCommons, who ran a failed campaign for supervisor, and elected township auditor Faye Musick asked how funds the local fire departments receive are audited.

Tenerowicz said the fire bureau meets monthly with supervisors, who must approve all firefighting expenditures of local tax dollars. They are included in annual Unity finances reviewed by Latrobe CPA firm Richard B. Guskiewicz Associates.

Any state funding the fire departments receive is audited by the issuing agencies, Tenerowicz said, adding that the departments have their own CPAs track money obtained through local fundraisers.

The supervisors will meet at 4:30 p.m. Tuesday to reorganize. The township auditors will reorganize at 3 p.m. Jan. 3.

Jeff Himler is a Tribune-Review staff writer. Reach him at 724-836-6622, jhimler@tribweb.com or via Twitter @jhimler_news.