L. Towamensing adopts budget with no tax increase

The Lower Towamensing Township supervisors adopted the budget for 2020 at their November meeting. There will be no tax increase.

Supervisor Ron Walbert said at the meeting that he spoke to the state Department of Environmental Protection about the sewer line that is being planned. DEP has a loan program to help people with the cost of hooking up to the line called the Pennvest Homeowner Septic Loan Program. It provides low-cost loans funded by Pennvest and administered by the Pennsylvania Housing Finance Agency.

Walbert brought in a brochure that stated that the loan has a fixed interest rate, currently as low as 1.75% with a term length of up to 20 years. The loan can be used to pay for construction to connect the sewer line to a house, as well as design and permit costs.

At 1.75% interest for 20 years, a $15,000 loan would have a monthly payment of $75, the brochure gave as an example.

Brent Green, chairman of the supervisors, said in a follow-up call that the loan rates do not fluctuate with the market.

“They’re that low all of the time. They don’t change,” he said.

The township obtained an approval letter from the state DEP for the Official Township-Wide Sewage Facilities Plan Update Revision in December 2016. The plan was developed to correct some sewage problems in the township. It consists of three projects: Weiner Mobile Estates, Red Hill Road and Aquashicola-Walkton-Little Gap System.

The Weiner Mobile Estates project is a short gravity sanitary sewer line that connects the mobile home park to the Palmerton Borough sewer system, as stated in a report in August by Carbon Engineering Inc.

The Red Hill Road project consists of several hundred feet of a gravity sanitary sewer line and manholes that connect five houses to a proposed small pumping station. This pumping station will tie into the Palmerton Borough sewer system.

And the Aquashicola-Walkton-Little Gap System is a system of gravity lines, manholes and two pumping stations with force mains that will convey wastewater to the Blue Mountain Ski Area Wastewater Treatment Plant. This plant is owned and operated by the Tuthill Corp. and would need to be upgraded.

Construction on any of the projects isn’t expected to begin until the spring of 2022. The next step is to apply to the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation for a Highway Occupancy permit.

“We anticipate submitting shortly, probably after Thanksgiving,” Green said.

Residents will not have to tie into the main line until the whole line is constructed, he said.

In other business, the supervisors approved getting life insurance for its employees. Each of the township’s three employees will have a $25,000 policy. The insurance will be provided through Sun Life Financial United States, based in Massachusetts.

They also decided to continue to look for a used tri-axle truck to replace one of the aging trucks.

The Christmas party is set for Dec. 13, so the municipal office will be closed that day.