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No tax hike in Edwardsville; residents honored

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Their view: NCAA money machine keeps humming along

<p>AVOCA &#8212; Council members this week approved the first reading of the proposed 2018 budget, which totals $1.102 million and calls for no tax increase.</p><p>The property-tax rate will stay at 2.3 mills. A mill is $1 in tax for every $1,000 in assessed property value.</p><p>This is the first time the borough has had a budget exceeding $1 million, according to council president John Boone.</p><p>&#8220;We&#8217;re finishing with enough surplus in the budget to carry us through the first couple of months (of 2018) until these revenues start coming back in again,&#8221; he said.</p><p>The budget allows council members to hire a third part-time street department worker and make payments on the current borough building, which opened earlier this year.</p><p>A second reading and approval of the proposed budget is expected at council&#8217;s next meeting in December.</p><p>Also this week, council members approved tax incentives for fire company and EMS volunteers. Active volunteers will be rewarded with a discount of 20 percent when paying borough property taxes.</p><p>Councilman Gary Halagarda, who is also a volunteer firefighter with the Avoca Hose Co., said volunteers will need to meet certain requirements before they are granted the discount.</p><p>&#8220;They can&#8217;t just join, become a member and not show up,&#8221; added Boone.</p><p>Halagarda said he&#8217;s hopeful this will convince more people to volunteer.</p><p>&#8220;I think it&#8217;s a great recruitment tool,&#8221; he said. &#8220;It&#8217;s not only a benefit for the active volunteers that we do have who own property in town, but it&#8217;s a recruiting tool to get more volunteers to come in.&#8221;</p><p>In other business, council members:</p><p>&#8226; Paid $2,500 to Ed Krasavage Construction, of Wyoming, to fix a sewer problem on Grove Street.</p><p>&#8226; Approved $64,418 to Kobalt Construction, of Pocono Summit, for work on the ADA Parks Project which made Plane Street Park and West Avoca Park more handicapped accessible.</p><p>&#8226; Paid $4,300 to Ed Krasavage Construction to repair a manhole on the corner of Grove Street.</p><p>&#8226; Donated $500 to the Greater Pittston Regional Compost Facility.</p><style>
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<div class="metaInfo"><bylineMeta><p>By Jimmy Fisher</p><p>jfisher@www.timesleader.com</p></bylineMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><factboxMeta><p><strong>WHAT&#8217;S NEXT</strong></p><p>The next Avoca Borough Council meeting will be held at 6:30 p.m. Thursday, Dec. 14, at the municipal building, 950 Main St.</p></factboxMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><shirttailMeta><p>Reach Jimmy Fisher at 570-704-3972 or on Twitter @SD_JimmyFisher</p></shirttailMeta></div>

Avoca’s proposed 2018 budget calls for no tax hike