Schuylkill commissioners award contracts

Sometimes, as budget adjustments are made at the end of the year, there’s some good news.

During a workshop meeting Wednesday, the Schuylkill County Commissioners learned that county Treasurer Linda Marchalk anticipates that her office will receive an additional $100,000 in hotel tax.

And more good news — the Mental Health/Developmental Services Agency will receive $279,000 in additional funding from the state.

But along with good news, ongoing bad news — the commissioners also approved and authorized an agreement for county inmate housing at Centre County Prison at a rate of $65 per day.

In addition to the Centre County Prison, Schuylkill also houses inmates in Berks, Columbia, Lackawanna and Snyder counties.

As of the end of June this year, the county had paid nearly $700,000 to house inmates at other facilities, as part of ongoing efforts to relieve overcrowding at the jail. A final tally of costs should be available when the county prison board meets next week.

In other business

During the meeting the commissioners also:

• Awarded a $9,945 contract to AMC Enterprise, Frackville, for a demolition project at 1 E. Center St., Frailey Township.

• Approved a two-year cleaning contract to TKO Cleaning Services for the 911 Communications Center Building, 435 N. Centre St., Pottsville, effective Jan. 1, 2019, through Dec. 31, 2020. The contract per year is $10,800. The commissioners also approved a contract with TKO for cleaning services at the Children & Youth Building, 324 N. Centre St., Pottsville, for the same time frame, for $25,200 per year. The commissioners are expected to formally approve the contracts during their regular meeting next week.

• Approved a $46,396 fee for service contract with Benefits Data Trust, Philadelphia, for the period September 2018 through September 2019. Funds for the contract are provided by the Pennsylvania Department of Aging and are used to conduct outreach for Medicare Part D, low income subsidy. The funds will be used to provide application assistance for a variety of programs, such as PACE/PACENET, supplemental nutrition assistance, LIHEAP and property tax/rent rebates.