DAMASCUS, PA — A new tax fund dedicated to large scale road building projects moved one step closer to becoming a reality, when a resolution supporting its establishment was adopted at the October 20 Damascus Board of Supervisors meeting. Originally envisioned by Chairman Jeffrey Dexter and operations manager Steve Adams as a potential solution to the township’s urgent need for money to rebuild roads washed out by hurricanes Irene and Sandy and buckled by last year’s extreme winter weather, no portion of the new fund would be used for routine road maintenance. Instead, it would be used exclusively for major road-building and rebuilding projects, Jurgenson and Chicopee roads among the first to be undertaken.

The new tax fund proposal will be advertised for one month and be the subject of a public hearing before it is submitted to a town board vote. Citing diminished tax revenues in recent years combined with dramatically increased need for money dedicated solely to road building and road restoration projects as the reason for the new tax fund proposal, Supervisor Joe Canfield said that, if approved, the proposal would mean an approximate $30 increase for every $100,000 of assessed value. The proposal was introduced in conjunction with the proposed 2015 township budget adopted by separate resolution at the same meeting.

Canfield also said that township tax rates had been unchanged for the past nine years, largely because revenues from land-sale transactions had been sufficient to offset township expenses. Lately, land-sale transactions have dropped sharply, along with a corresponding drop in new building permit applications, another previously dependable source of township revenue.

Canfield’s remarks served as a lead-in to zoning officer Ed Lagarenne’s report on revenues, or lack thereof, from fines associated with new building permit violations. Citing a recent case in point, Lagarenne said that failure to obtain a permit prior to septic system installation had resulted in a $1,000 fine levied against the contractor (not his first such offense) and a $500 fine levied against the property owner. Despite the fact that all of the legwork and cost associated with collection of the fines had been borne by the township, the bulk of the fine revenues were assigned to the state and county. Lagarenne went on to say that the reason that Damascus received only $8.25 of the $1,500 total fines levied is that fines normally accrue to the government entity that enacted the legislation violated; the sanitary code responsible for septic tank installation practices was of state and county origin. Urging the township to draft its own building and sanitary code ordinances, Lagarenne said that the fine revenues would make the endeavor worthwhile in the long run.

Lagarenne reminded all Damascus residents to replace their smoke detector batteries as they change their clocks from Daylight Saving Time to Eastern Standard Time on November 2, and that the township is sponsoring a flu shot clinic on October 29 from 9 a.m. to 12 noon at the community center.