Around the Borough

James Rada Jr.
News Correspondent

(Nov, 2010) Carroll Valley Councilman Bill Reinke is ‘cautiously optimistic" that property taxes won’t have to be increased next year in the borough. He told the council during its October meeting that budget will be lean.

"Every year we’re cutting to the bone," he said.

Some road projects have been suspended in order to save money as well as reconsidering spending elsewhere in the budget.

Despite being leaner the council members will see about 100 more line items in the budget. These are not new items just more-detailed breakdowns of existing items that have been added to give the council a more-complete picture when they review the budget.

One increasing expense the borough will face is about $61,000 more for employee pensions.

"That’s a pretty, big, bitter nut to swallow," Reinke said.

Council may create its own "do not solicit" list

In its effort to control unwanted door-to-door solicitors, the Carroll Valley Council has realized they can’t ban the activity outright. It would be a First Amendment violation.

The borough office received numerous complaints this summer about a particular salesman who was connected to a child sex offender. Though the salesman himself wasn’t an offender, he was driving a car owned by a child sex offender. What concerned some people is that the salesman had been licensed by the borough.

To this point, the licensing has served no purpose other than to give the borough staff contact information if there is a problem and give the police a reason to ask the solicitor to leave the borough if there is no license.

It was suggested that the borough collect a list of homes that do not want to be solicited and hand that list to anyone applying for a license.

However, the most-effective way to stop unwanted solicitations remains for the property owner to post a "no solicitors" sign in their yard or door.

Police get equipment grant

The Carroll Valley Police Department recently received a $10,000 grant from the Pennsylvania Committee on Criminal Delinquency. The money will be used to upgrade two police cars with digital in-car systems as part of the state’s Video Accountability Protection Project.