Jan 7, 2026 By Jon Andreassi 2 min read

With a new member, South Strabane Township’s board of supervisors will be reopening the 2026 budget.

Zack Morgan was sworn in for a six-year term at the municipality’s reorganization meeting Monday evening. Morgan replaces Mark Murphy, whose term expired at the end of 2025.

George Rowand was named the board’s chairman, and Jeff Bull, vice chairman.

Bull supported Morgan’s campaign for supervisor. Morgan was elected as a Democrat but is a registered Republican. He lost in the primary to Robert Schuerle, but won a write-in campaign for the Democratic nomination.

Bull said he, Rowand’s and Morgan’s goals on the board could be summed up as “financial responsibility.”

To that end, supervisors voted 3-2 Monday to reopen the 2026 budget. Bob Weber and Russ Grego voted against the motion.

“A new board has the option to do that. We chose to do that,” Bull said.

The budget expects $8,738,521 in expenses and $8,772,600 in revenue. Taxes held steady with a real estate tax of 1.1 mills and a fire protection tax of 0.75 mills.

Bull did not say if there is anything specific supervisors are looking to change in the budget.

“Everything is going to be looked at, and the cost benefit it brings to the township,” Bull said.

Weber said he voted against reopening the budget because he thinks the spending plan was “fine.”

“I just thought it was appropriate for the 2026 year,” Weber said.

Weber added that he felt there was ample time to raise concerns about the budget between budget meetings in the fall and final approval of the budget in December.

“I don’t know what the concerns are. I wish I could tell you,” Weber said.

There will be public meetings to discuss the budget, though dates for those meetings have not been set.

Supervisors also adjusted the time of their monthly meeting. They will still convene on the fourth Tuesday of each month, but the meetings will start at 7 p.m. instead of 6.