Home Improvement, Page 16
The Home News Your Local News
NOVEMBER 19-25, 2015
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Northampton Big N Band wins championship
Konkrete Kid Honor Roll Page 3
submitted by NABP The Northampton Area Big N band represented the school district in the Cavalcade of Bands State Championships in Hershey. The band earned first place and received awards for best percussion and best music. The Big
N Band is led by director James Sansone and assistant director Tim Carpency. In addition, the instructional staff includes Rick Wolfel, percussion captain head /front ensemble instructor; Jason Steigerwalt, battery instructor; Connor Barz, visual cap-
tain head; Michele Lynch, color guard instructor and Ian Flint, drill design. The band is made up of 55 members, including Drum Major, Melissa Reph; Assistant Drum Major, Olivia Sattely; Woodwind Section Leader,
Hailey Silfies; Brass Co-Section Leaders, Haylie Birkit and Gavyn Frankenfield; Percussion Co-Section Leaders, Seth Reigard and Chelsea Bilheimer; Co-Color Guard Captains, Becca Pace and Kirsten Stettler.
Native planting at Morav. Hall Page 10
1.5 mill tax increase due Bath Homeowners; up from 13.5 mills
by BILL HALBFOERSTER The Home News
Bath Borough Council, at its workshop meeting on Wednesday, Nov. 11, said they will vote to adopt its 2016 budget, calling for a 1.5-mill increase, raising the tax rate for homeowners from 13.5 mills to 15 mills. The total budget amounts to $2,281,035. Council president Mark Saginario said it is an aggressive plan that Council has come up with. “We worked through 17 budget
scenarios, from being aggressive to doing nothing,” he said. “Over the years, Council hasn’t addressed all the problems,” he noted. Saginario said the office has been ignored for 10 to 15 years. Office computers are old and outdated. With the new revenue, Council will be able to update them for better e-mail communication. This year, $10,000 has been spent on information technology as they want better com-
munication services. Dell computers are the cheapest, but they don’t work well with all systems, he said. Other municipalities have designated a millage rate to the fire department. Now Bath will give .25 mills from the 2016 budget for the fire department so they will have a known amount of funds to work with. Before this, the fire department and ambulance corps have been transferring funds back and forth in or-
der to stay afloat, Saginario said. After Borough Manager Brad Flynn went over the budget figures, he listed all the capital projects that are planned. One of them is repairing streets that are potholes. Council is borrowing $380,000 to do some of the projects. Council has also asked for quotes to modernize the present municipal building at Penn & Washington Sts., or to build a new building. They have a Continued on page 14
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