A normal part of the functioning of the borough council and school district is the regular scheduling of meetings at which citizens are welcome. One of the problems is that, generally, very, very few citizens do attend these important meetings. They are important because this is where the “nuts and bolts” of what’s going to happen and how it impacts you begins.

Here are some agendas (and minutes, in one case) of some of this week’s meetings. Since last night’s meetings ran until after 9:00 pm, we have not yet had time to develop articles from our notes. There will be more to come in a few days.

1. Public Safety Committee agenda
2. Legislation Committee agenda
3. Legislation Committee minutes from September [NOTE: disregard the scribbling on this page; pen testing on our part, evidently. The three citizens in attendance and we appreciated the inclusion of the minutes from the previous month’s meeting. Kudos to chairperson Duncan for this enlightened courtesy.]
4. Public Property Committee agenda

Last night, the Columbia Borough School District Finance and Audit meeting was held during the same time period as the borough council meetings.

There were a few items addressed during the Legislation committee meeting that are topical. During discussion about a Pawn Shop ordinance, Mayor Lutz commented that merchandise stolen during the recent rash of auto break-ins, in Columbia and in communities throughout the area, has to have outlets to convert the merchandise into cash. There is evidence that those outlets tend to be online providers and, in some cases, illicit pawn brokers.

It appears there is an area of concern between Columbia’s two taxing authorities, the School District and the Borough, about L.E.R.T.A. –

“Communities may also utilize certain flexibilities within their property tax code to encourage reinvestment. Most common tools available are Tax Incremental Financing (TIF) and Local Economic Revitalization Tax Assistance (LERTA). TIF allows a percentage of property taxes in a designated revitalization area to be devoted specifically towards public improvement which would benefit property owners. It requires support of property owners within the revitalization area and generally best succeeds in conjunction with a planning program which results in economic benefit.

“LERTA is the form of tax abatement allowed under Pennsylvania law. LERTA permits communities to designate areas in which there would be up to ten-year abatement of taxes on building improvements or new construction.

“Communities would continue to receive the original taxes on existing buildings or land.

“In Pennsylvania, LERTA was originally designated to allow communities to specifically target certain areas within their entire boundaries. However, it has frequency been used throughout the whole community often subsidizing developments which would recur regardless of the system. LERTA, when used, should be specifically focused on areas where development may not occur without this extra incentive.” (SOURCE: www.elibrary.state.pa.us/dldoc.asp?fn=4208500000ccp0170.pdf)

There was significant discussion about the topic of downtown parking; many at the meeting agreed that “parking meter charges in downtown Columbia” represent a bargain. We did not hear any similar impressions from any business operators or citizens; see this article about Harrisburg’s parking controversy.

Appears we missed a part 5 installment of our country roads musings; so, this is it.

The Plane Street project!

This was then … and this (below) is now

Signs on the bulletin board at the Post Office!

New sidewalk in progress!

Spider web in the tree!

Summer flowers we will miss!

If you’ve got interesting pictures of your neighborhood think about sharing them with Columbia news, views & reviews readers. It’s a great way to share in the exploration of Columbia. Email your photos to 17512@mail.com.