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Vol. 133 - No. 233
Mostly cloudy. Scattered snow showers in the morn-ing. Highs in the mid-20s. Chance of snow 50 percent.
Full report, A2
18 pagesClassified ......................... B4Comics ............................. A8Lifestyles ......................... A4Lottery ............................. A11Opinion ........................... A10Public Notices ............... B4Sports ............................... B1
75 Cents
• Grady J. Cherry, infant• Vivian Arlene Fridley, 97• Gary A. Meyer, 61,• Scott Alan Tapper, 55
The Courier-Express will not publish a newspa-per Thursday, due to the Thanksgiving Day holi-day. Offices in DuBois will be closed. Normal busi-ness hours will resume Friday.
13 homelessThirteen people have
been forced out of their homes because of a fire in central Pennsylvania. A5
Rusty computersA Pennsylvania man
has been sentenced to 2½ years in federal prison for selling more than $400,000 worth of rusty or junked computers and worthless electronics to online customers. A6
Troubled travelThanksgiving travel-
ers scrambled to avoid a sprawling storm bearing down on the East Coast. A7
No newspaperThursday
Tomorrow’s Forecast
Index
ObituariesA11
MORE INSIDE
Page B1
Kids Give Thanks In Today’s Edition!
WEDNESDAY-THURSDAY, NOV. 27-28, 2013
Gerome Neiswonger of DuBois shovels snow Tuesday afternoon at the home of a neighbor. (Photo by Paul A. Wilson)
By Kimberly Finnigan
CLEARFIELD — The residents of Clearfield County can be thankful for another year with-out a property tax increase.
The commissioners approved the prelimi-nary budget Tuesday, holding the tax mills at 18.5.
That means the owner of a $50,000 property will pay about $231.25 in taxes to the county. Property owners also pay real estate and other taxes to the school district and the municipal-ity in which they live.
The budget totals $21,515,405, including liquid fuels, hazardous materials, debt service, capital reserve, the 911 fund, the hotel tax, re-cords improvement, community development block grants, children and youth services and retirement.
“We really want to thank each of the depart-ment heads,” Commissioner Joan Robinson-McMillen said. “The board of commissioners feel the citizens of Clearfield County have been taxed to the amount where they can be taxed no more.
“I know I like to be corny, but in all serious-ness, we balance the budget, but the taxpayers budget the balance,” Commissioner John Sobel said.
Commissioner Mark McCracken pointed out that the employees’ health insurance expenses have decreased and the individual department heads have been doing what they can to keep expenses in line.
No taxincrease inClearfield Countybudget
By Nick Hoffman
Much of the region was spared the worst of an early season winter storm Tuesday as snow and sleet that fell early turned to rain and stayed rain.
In DuBois, the sewage treat-ment plant measured about 2 inch-es of snow. An inch of rain fell on
Tri-County Area dodges bullet from winter storm
City of DuBois plow operator Greg Vida navigates the streets on the east side of DuBois while plowing Tuesday afternoon. Crews hit the streets in an effort to stay ahead of a forecast of freezing rain and snow overnight. (Photo by Paul A. Wilson)
By Randy Bartley
BROOKVILLE — The cost of doing business in Jefferson County has driven the real estate tax mill-age higher.
Jefferson County Commission-ers Paul Corbin and Jim McIntyre voted Tuesday to approve a prelim-inary $22,189,794 budget for 2014 that is supported by a one-half mill increase in real estate tax. Com-missioner Jeff Pisarcik was absent.
The increase means the owner of a property valued at $50,000 will pay about $25 more in real es-tate taxes to the county, along with the taxes they pay to the school district and municipality in which they live.
Budget Director Debbie Hack-ett said rising occupational costs made it necessary for the county to make “adjustments.” The half-mill increase should raise an addi-tional $400,000 for the county. The
county’s total real estate tax levy is 11.5 mills.
Hackett said the increase is needed to offset the higher cost of inmate health care at the Jefferson County Jail and for debt service.
She said the county employees will be receiving a “modest” wage increase and health care costs would be increasing of less than 2 percent.
“All of the county employees and row officers have worked to keep costs in line,” Corbin said. “The cost of doing business has in-creased and we have to keep pace with it.”
The increase does provide some money for the proposed jail expan-sion project.
“We have a contingency fund for the jail,” Corbin said. “Right now we are talking with a consultant. We are looking at modular units again. It would be economical if we could get 10 to 15 years out of that structure.”
McIntyre said that a collabora-tive effort in the human services department helped create a “deliv-
County commissioners look at increasing taxes
Jacob Gotwald of Stump Creek sets out bottles of maple syrup Tuesday at the Sykesville Town Hall in prepara-tion for the an-nual Sykesville Lions Club Pan-cake Fry. This is the 60th year for the event, which runs Friday 8 a.m. to 8 p.m., Saturday 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. and Sunday 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. Pancake committee chairman Don Zimmerman, participating for the 50th year, estimated they'll use about 400 pounds of pancake mix and 600 pounds of sausage over the three-day event. (Photo by Paul A. Wilson)
By Glenn Schuckers
REYNOLDSVILLE — The Reynoldsville Borough Council presented its bud-get for 2014 at its November meeting. The budget does not include any tax increase for the coming year and proj-ects $778,000 in both rev-enue and expenses, slightly
more than the $712,242 in the 2013 budget.
The property tax rate will remain at 7.485 mills, mean-ing the owner of a $50,000 property will pay about $374 in real estate taxes to the borough. Residents also pay taxes to Jefferson County and the DuBois Area School District. The 2014 budget will be on display at the bor-
ough building until it is ad-opted at the council’s Dec. 18 meeting.
According to council President Jack Matusky, the borough will end the current year with about $20,000 in its accounts and Secretary Jackie Dixon said all the bills for the current year have been paid, with some paid ahead to February.
Dixon said the borough has collected some $54,000 in delinquent taxes and fines and added that resi-dents have until Dec. 31 to pay taxes for 2013. The $54,000 represents about 85 percent of the taxes not paid in the past year.
She and Matusky agreed it has been a good year fi-nancially for the borough,
which did not have to take out a Tax Anticipation Loan to cover current expenses.
In other matters, Dixon read a letter from the town’s new librarian, Karl Rebon, outlining current activities as well as plans for coming events.
The council voted to grant a variance request involving
Proposed Reynoldsville budget shows no tax increase
Jefferson County
See Jefferson, Page A11
See Reynoldsville, Page A11
See Storm, Page A11
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