Bolen Road Extension to be turned over to Game Commission

The final regular meeting of the Sadsbury Township Supervisors was held in near blizzard conditions on the 14th of December. Missing in action were Road Master Dave Hubbard and Zoning Officer Paul Roiz. Hubbard’s absence was due to the road crew’s hectic schedule of working 12 hour shifts. Any time in between was used for needed rest.

A resident in attendance praised the workers for their excellent work in keeping the roads as clear as possible in less than ideal conditions.

George Zeljak and Attorney Jeff Millin were present as representatives of the Conneaut Lake Volunteer Fire Department. The reason for their visit had to do with a tax exemption issue.

Zeljak gave some history of the situation and imparted that a while back, the department refinanced some long-term debt. When this occurred, the bank asked that the deeds be under one name. For example, some of them read “Conneaut Lake Volunteer Fire Department,” and others read “Conneaut Lake Borough Fire Department,” etc.

By the very nature of that activity, it looked, to the powers that be, as though some kind of ownership had changed hands, and it placed them into a taxable category.

Time went by and they found out that they were being charged property taxes for the 2009 year.

According to Zeljak, the County said that they had sent notification stating that they needed to file an appeal for a hearing in order to retain the tax exempt status. He went on to explain that the VFD never received the letter of notification.

Before it got too deep, they were able to go through the appropriate motions to return to the tax exempt status in time for 2010, but the issue of 09 was still not resolved.

When the department explained that they hadn’t gotten the notice, the County pointed out that they had sent it.

So, the course of action they decided to take, and the reason for their visit during the meeting, was to approach the taxing bodies and ask for exoneration. They were going to attend the school board meeting as well, after they finished up with Sadsbury, but it had been canceled due to the weather.

Attorney Millin said that he wanted to go in this direction rather than to take it to court. Therefore, he wrote to Township Solicitor, R. Charles Thomas, and also sent a letter to the school district solicitor.

Millin said that he wasn’t blaming anyone and stated that the tax exempt status had simply fallen through the cracks.

Sadsbury Supervisor Roy Whaley asked if the attorney for the school board was willing to go along and Millin indicated his discomfort in speaking on his behalf.

R. Charles said that case law pertaining to this issue was rather limited and then asked if they had requested a copy of the notice that the County had sent. There was no proof of mailing offered.

He also said that he spoke with the school board solicitor and he told R. Charles that, in his opinion, the only thing a taxing body, such as the supervisors, could exonerate would be the interest and penalties but nothing else.

He said he really wasn’t clear where the attorney would have gathered that view or information leading to that conclusion.

He asked supervisors if they wanted to wait and see what kind of decision the school board and County made before weighing in, or if they wanted to get the ball rolling and be the “lead group.”

Supervisor Kevin VanHonk spoke up and said that it wasn’t like they were used to getting this tax. In other words, they had never collected it in the past, because the department had always been exempt and the township would not be out anything.

VanHonk’s recommendation was to go ahead and exonerate, and Supervisor Don Ellis agreed.

R. Charles asked if they wanted to make the exoneration contingent upon the decision of the school board. Whaley said he was thinking of that very same thing because of the statement made by their attorney concerning the waiving, so to speak, of the penalties and interest only. He indicated that he wondered what that attorney knew about other cases that would lead him to this way of thinking.

Millin reminded everyone that, “for purposes of the township, it doesn’t matter what the other taxing bodies do. As far as what the school board and the County would do, it really doesn’t impact what you do...”

Whaley jumped in at that point and said, “Only if there’s a law out there that we don’t know about. If there’s something on the books that says something different.”

Some back and forth bantering ensued and after clarifying the issue, it was determined that waiting to see what the decision of another taxing body might be, would, in essence, give that body too much power.

After a mild discussion,VanHonk reminded everyone again that Sadsbury had never collected taxes from the fire department, since it had always been tax exempt. He said they had never budgeted for that money, or anything of that sort, because there wouldn’t have been a reason to do so.

Whaley agreed with VanHonk and asked how a taxing body could fathom counting on money that had never been a part of the landscape

prior to, or after, 09. “The system says they aren’t supposed to pay anything.”

He then indicated that they should simplify things and make a motion to exonerate with no stipulations.

A motion was then made to approve the request by the Conneaut Lake Volunteer Fire Department to exonerate the 2009 tax, including interest and penalties. It was seconded and carried with no further discussion needed.

Secretary Rose Mumau is going to compose a letter to County officials to let them know of the decision. She will send it directly to the fire department so that they can present it to the appropriate parties.

In other township news, prior to the meeting, a public hearing was held for the consideration of vacating a portion of Bolen Rd., (Bolen Road Extension), which is off of Canal Road on the south side of the Shermansville region. Although the road is accessible by vehicle, it is best described as a lane, rather than an actual roadway.

A representative of the PA Game Commission had attended previous meetings and had broached the subject of vacating the road.

Whaley had said, during those past meetings, that it should be taken over by game land officials, as it is primarily used by them. He had stated too that it didn’t make sense to continue to use the township’s equipment, time and energy since, “we get no use out of it.”

R. Charles got the ball rolling, which brought them to the current meeting and the hearing prior to.

Jerry Bishop, a representative for the PA Game Commission, arrived late on the scene and expressed that he had not been able to attend the hearing.

He approached the board and said that the document that he had seen contained a line or two about barricading the road with piles of dirt. He asked that this be removed from the final ordinance as they needed to be able to utilize the road.