Unity holds taxes steady, eyes $1.2M federal funding boost for 2022

Unity Supervisors this week adopted a final 2022 township budget of $9.1 million that holds the line on taxes and includes a second year of supplementary federal funding through the American Rescue Plan.

Supervisor Mike O’Barto cited ongoing property development for allowing the township to keep its real estate tax level at 2.2 mills.

“We have to credit good, sound development, which has increased our assessed (property) value,” he said, “so we’re able to keep up with inflation.”

He said the total assessed valuation of township properties is about $300 million.

Unity also levies a 2-mill fire tax that is assessed on real estate and helps cover costs for local volunteer fire departments.

The supervisors retroactively amended the 2021 township budget to include the first year of American Rescue Plan (ARP) funding, a $1.2 million revenue boost the board wasn’t expecting when it drafted that spending plan.

The same level of ARP funding has been budgeted for 2022, but O’Barto noted the supervisors are reaching out to state officials as they try to pin down the range of projects they can pay for with that money.

“You can use it for sewer extensions and water line extensions and, we believe, blight,” he said.

ARP dollars can’t be used for paving township roads, O’Barto said. He noted Unity should be able to pay for such road improvements or for bridge upgrades with its share from another federal funding source — the recently approved $1.2 trillion bipartisan infrastructure bill. The supervisors don’t yet know what amount of funding to expect from that source.

The supervisors named the township’s engineering consultant, Gibson-Thomas, to also serve as its engineer of record for administering and providing guidance on use of the federal funds.

Regardless of those funding sources, O’Barto has said the township likely will tap a portion of its recent $8 million bond issue to help pay for an expanded paving program next year. This past paving season, it drew upon about $2 million from the bond issue to address a number of roads that hadn’t been resurfaced in as long as four decades.

Salt sale, sewage module OK’d

The supervisors agreed to sell up to 30 tons of road salt to the Greater Latrobe School Board at the same price the township pays to its supplier. The school board is slated to act on the agreement at its Tuesday meeting.

The Unity board also agreed to submit to the state Department of Environmental Protection a sewage facilities planning module for 6 acres of property the Wimmer Corp. owns adjacent to Saint Vincent College.

Township Solicitor Gary Falatovich explained about a half dozen new sewage taps will be needed when the property is conveyed to the college for development of a multipurpose indoor athletic and convocation center.

Earlier this year, the college received a $1.5 million Redevelopment Capital Assistance Program grant from the state to assist with that project.