?By STEPHANIE BRADFORD, Correspondent ? LancasterIntelligencer Journal/New Era
?Columbia borough council discussed a variety of financial matters Monday,? Dec. 10, making? decisions about taxes, property assessments and a possible bond.
?On taxes,? council unanimously approved the borough?s 2013 spending plan without a tax increase.
?The budget shows revenues estimated at $6,517,766 and expenditures of the same amount. The millage rate will stay at 8 mills. At that level, the owner of a property assessed at $100,000 pays $800.
?The budget represents an increase of $768,931 ? or 9 percent ? from 2012. The jump in spending is largely due to the addition of a police officer and an environmental code officer as well as an estimated 17-percent increase in healthcare costs.
?The spending plan also includes a transfer of $397,285 from the general fund to the capital fund for previously approved projects.
?On the property assessments, council denied a request from Lancaster County Tax Claim Bureau to drop the assessed value of four? borough properties to $0.
?Reducing the assessed value of 550 N. Fifth St., 611 N. Fifth St., 623 N. Fifth St., and Lot Avenue H would stop the continued accrual of real estate taxes on the parcels and would eventually result in the lots being removed from the tax roll.
?In an Oct. 18 letter to the borough and Columbia School District on behalf of the county, D. Lynne Ferguson of Nikolaus and Hohenadel, said that the four lots are delinquent in taxes and, in the county?s opinion, unlikely to sell.
?The end goal, says Ferguson, ?is to enable the local taxing districts to more accurately forecast real estate tax revenue? (and) to avoid dozens of properties from ending up in the unsold property repository indefinitely.?
?Council denied the request, said member Kelly Murphy, because the school district was against it.
?In another financial matter, council authorized? Concord Public Finance to look into options for refinancing a $2.5 million loan from 2005. The money was used to make improvements to Route 462, which included repaving the road as well as doing bridge, brick and sidewalk work.
?The estimated outstanding principal on the loan is $2,299,260 and it carries an interest rate of 4.25 percent. If the loan is refinanced through a bond issue, the rate could drop to 3.25 percent, said Christopher Gibbons, principal, Concord Public Finance.? The projected savings to the borough is $126,000.
?In other business, Mary Barninger said that the council has received several letters of interest about the open seat. To serve on council,? applicants must have been a resident of the borough for at least one year and be registered to vote.
?Also, Barninger joked, they have to have ??time, do lots of reading and be able to hold their tongue.??
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