Feb 9, 2022 4 min read

The residents of South Strabane Township came out in full force Tuesday morning to voice their opposition to an ordinance that would have levied a tax on property owners within 780 feet of a fire hydrant.

The board of supervisors got the message and unanimously voted not to adopt the ordinance.

Residents packed the municipal meeting for the 10 a.m. special meeting and spoke for about 45 minutes before the supervisors could take their vote.

“Thank you very, very much for your presence, for your comments, and I think the board gets the picture,” said Bob Weber, the board’s chairman, as he concluded the public comment portion of the meeting. “I think you made yourselves very clear what position you’re taking on this particular matter.”

The ordinance had originally appeared on the agenda for the supervisors’ Jan. 25 meeting, but they voted to table the issue. The township announced the special meeting a couple of days later, providing a copy of the ordinance on the township website.

However, the ordinance was initially missing a key piece of information – the cost to residents.

Monday afternoon, the day before the special meeting, South Strabane’s website was updated with a post addressing how the assessment would work in practice. Township manager Brandon Stanick read that post at the start of Tuesday’s meeting.

According to Stanick, the millage for the assessment would have been 0.0597 mill. A property valued at $200,000 would have been assessed just shy of $12 per year.

The hydrants in South Strabane are owned by Pennsylvania American Water, and the township pays about $60,000 per year for maintenance. Stanick said the assessment would have covered that cost.

The township used data from the water company to map out all of the hydrants, and from there created a potential “Fire Hydrant District” to determine who would have to pay the assessment.

Stanick said the South Strabane Fire Department will use fire hydrants that are up to 1,000 feet away from a property, and that even if a resident lived in the proposed district, the nearby hydrant may not be used due to difficult elevation.

Many residents expressed at the meeting that their issue was not necessarily with having to pay a small tax for fire hydrant maintenance, but that they felt the proposal was unfair.

“Everyone in the township, whether they live within or outside that 780 feet, benefits from fire hydrants. Everyone,” said Nita Houston. “So everyone should be paying that, what I feel should be a fee, not an assessment.”

When Dave Orndoff spoke, he asked the board to imagine two homes, one within the district and another 900 feet from the nearest hydrant.

“Both benefit from the hydrant. One pays the tax, one does not. You’re sowing the seeds of discontent amongst the residents,” Orndoff said.

Supervisor Richard Luketich pushed back on the idea that it was unfair. He said he lives more than a mile from the nearest hydrant, and his closest neighbor lives more than three miles away.

“You can say they’re going to use that fire hydrant that’s one mile away from my house to bring water in a tanker truck. That’s not the same type of fire protection you people have,” Luketich said.

Luketich said residents in his situation end up paying more in homeowner’s insurance because there is not a nearby hydrant.

Residents were also upset with how the supervisors handled the issue.

“As far as the meeting time that you guys picked? Tacky, at best,” said Zach Morgan.

“Underhanded” was also used to describe the special meeting during public comment. Many residents felt the supervisors had picked a time that would be inconvenient for most residents to attend. One person in the crowd remarked she had called off work to be at the meeting.

Stanick said the meeting had been scheduled at that time due to the availability of the supervisors. He added that they also needed to address the matter “sooner than later.”

“Property tax bills are going out soon. So we want to coordinate with our tax collectors as quickly as possible,” Stanick said. “We heard loud and clear from the residents that 10 a.m. meetings don’t work for them. Understandable.”

Board Vice Chairman Mark Murphy said he agreed with those who came to speak at the meeting.

“I wasn’t in favor of it, the way it was worded. I agree; I think everyone should pay,” Murphy said.