By George Guido

Published: Thursday, January 10, 2013, 12:31 a.m.
Updated: Thursday, January 10, 2013

East Deer could hire a full-time code enforcement officer soon.

Township commissioners have scheduled a special meeting for Jan. 31 at 7 p.m. to discuss the code enforcement issue and to establish the real estate tax millage rate for this year.

Currently, the township uses Business Inspection Underwriters of Avalon to handle commercial, industrial and new construction.

Code enforcement in residential areas has been handled by part-time police officers, who sometimes are unavailable.

“We need to make a decision soon on this, hopefully by Feb. 1,” said commission Chairman Tony Taliani. “There's been some renovation, but little new construction since the recession started.”

Taliani will meet with BIU officials next week, and other similar companies could be considered.

East Deer plans to demolish several dilapidated buildings this year, which is another reason why township officials are eager to hire a full-time inspector.

The township hopes to have enough data from Allegheny County to set the millage rate by the end of the month.

Many county municipalities have been delayed in setting real estate tax rates because of the reassessment program and a number of appeals from property owners.

Taliani visited county officials this week and was told appeals are still taking place and some cases have been moved to county court.

East Deer expects to lower the millage rate for this year.

Because of the higher reassessment numbers, residents can expect to pay about the same amount of money in property taxes as they did last year.

Commissioners said any other township business will be considered at the special meeting.

George Guido is a freelancewriter for Trib Total Media.

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