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JANUARY 18-24, 2018
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Lehigh Supervisors find Tax bill solution By JUSTIN SWEITZER The Lehigh Township Board of Supervisors reached a consensus regarding the mailing of tax bills at their Jan. 9 meeting, resolving an area of concern that the board faced at their last few meetings. The board passed a motion to compensate township tax collector Mary Louise Trexler a fixed rate of $3,718 to combine and stuff tax bills—per capita and real estate taxes—pending Township Solicitor David Backenstoe’s research of whether it is legal to compensate beyond the collector’s set salary. The motion comes after Trexler told the township in 2017 that she would not be sending and stuffing the tax bills, according to minutes from the board’s Dec. 12 meeting. Trexler said she was told that she is not required to collect per capita taxes or stuff the envelopes, as she has done in the past. “I’m not obligated to stuff the
bills,” Trexler said. “That was something I just did.” The board explored having Berkheimer Tax Innovations stuff and send the envelopes, but since the company could not consolidate the bills, the board dismissed that option. That left them to either compensate Trexler for the service or have office staff carry it out. Board of Supervisors Chairman Darryl Snover voiced concern about whether the township is legally allowed to compensate Trexler in addition to her salary. “If we entertain the notion of additional compensation for the tax collector for something that was traditionally done in the past, does that constitute a change in the compensation that would fall outside of what the law would allow?” Snover asked. Backenstoe said he didn’t have a concrete answer and would have to find out what is allowed
by law. He also said the situation involved two different issues, the collection of per capita taxes and the physical stuffing of the envelopes. “To my knowledge, every tax collector in the area stuffs them. I’ve never heard of a tax collector not stuffing them.” Backenstoe said. “I will tell you as I sit here tonight, I don’t know if there’s a regulation that requires the tax collector to stuff the envelope.” However, Backenstoe said he is confident that the township’s tax collector is required to collect per capita taxes, saying that the ordinance is “clear on its face” that Trexler must collect per capita taxes by law, despite her being told otherwise. “The law is pretty clear that a township tax collector has a statutory duty to collect occupationContinued on page 3
Northampton planners Approve plans for Willow Brook Farm Trust
by KERI LINDENMUTH Pastor Rick Edmund has been collecting nativity sets for most of his adult life. He not only appreciates their beauty, but also the way they exemplify the Christian message and the meaning of John 3:16: “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.” “It is such an important part of the Christian message,” he says. It has taken many years for
Pastor Edmund, 69, to accumulate his varied collection of more than 100 uniquely different nativity sets. Some are made of porcelain, others of wood, and others of glass. Some are small and detailed, while others are large and elaborate. They depict the birth of Christ not only in Bethlehem, but also in African and Native American villages. An entire room in the Chapman Quarries United Methodist Church parsonage, where Pastor Continued on page 15
By JUSTIN SWEITZER The Northampton Borough Planning Commission recommended conditional approval for three separate plans for Willow Brook Farm Trust at their Jan. 10 meeting. The trust came before the planning commission seeking favorable recommendations for a lot line adjustment to combine two parcels into one, a minor subdivision of the combined parcel and a land development/subdivision of Willow Brook’s proposed Lot 3 into 11 single-family homes in Phase I of their development. The trust is seeking to build 11 single family homes in the borough off of Howertown Road as part of a larger project that spans across multiple municipalities in Northampton County. If approved by borough coun-
cil, the approval of the three plans is contingent upon multiple conditions outlined by the planning commission. Robert McHale, a member of the planning commission, asked whether or not the homeowner association for the borough would be responsible for handling the development’s sewer, and whether there would even be a homeowner association for the development. “Now this was all predicated on the fact that there was a homeowner’s association,” McHale said. “It doesn’t sound like that’s been solid yet.” Bob Dwyer, a consultant for the trust, confirmed that there would be a homeowner association and that it would handle the development’s sewer. “It is solid and there will be an
association, absolutely. All the sewer will be handled by the association, not by the sewer authority,” Dwyer said. McHale also sought clarification on whether there would be a left-turn lane on Howertown Road onto Fuller Drive, as discussed at previous meetings. “I didn’t see anything on these plans, and I don’t know if it should be on these plans, whether or not there is left-hand turns that were discussed going into
Continued on page 2
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