No 2018 tax increase in Walnutport

The residents of Walnutport Borough will not see a tax increase for the upcoming year.

During Thursday night’s monthly borough council meeting, the board voted to keep the rate the same at 18.25 mills.

Walnutport is the third highest taxed borough in the neighboring 38 municipalities, falling just behind Hellertown and Easton.

The board also voted to vacate alley after a brief hearing at the top of the meeting.

Danny and Emil Solderitz petitioned their neighbors and advertised for 30 days the notice to vacate the alley behind their property in order to construct a garage.

“There weren’t any utilities and it was never opened. All the local property owners have agreed,” said borough solicitor Michael Corriere.

The volunteer firefighter tax relief ordinance was tabled until the January meeting where the board will decide how or if to implement the tax credit incentive.

Walnutport engineer Jason Newhard told the board that the Dunkin’ Donuts has changed its plan to a small square footage, from the originally estimated 1,000 square feet to less than half the size at 350 square feet.

Lehigh and Northampton County will finally meet to work out the 911 billing issue that has plagued the borough.

For the 911 emergency system service, the borough is billed by Lehigh County. Walnutport is supposed to then receive reimbursement for the fees from Northampton County.

The charges for the service appear on both landline and cellphone bills.

The fee collected is sent directly to the Pennsylvania Emergency Management Agency, then disbursed to the counties to pay for the emergency dispatch.

The dispatch fee was created when Lehigh County became the emergency provider for the borough 16 years ago even though Walnutport is a part of Northampton County.

Lehigh charges a subsidy to the borough to cover the costs Lehigh incurs from serving as the provider to a municipality outside its district.

Both Lehigh and Northampton had put off the meeting for more than a year but will finally come face to face on Friday to resolve the issue.

Northern Lehigh Recreation Authority Director Michael Kukitz stopped by the meeting to inform the board that the authority received two grants from the Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources combined with a grant from the Department of Community Development to conduct a feasibility study for the proposed community center to be conducted this spring.

The 16,000-square-foot facility located in Slatington will require a feasibility study to determine if there is enough interest and need in the community for the center.

“The study is a necessary piece before going to funders,” he said.

As the meeting drew to a close, Mayor Wayne Weidner thanked exiting borough council member Nancy Treskot for serving on the borough and “her fantastic work on the budget.”

The board will reorganize Jan. 2.