Tarentum residents will pay the same in taxes next year but costs for water use and garbage collection will increase. Council approved the borough’s $11 million budget with a vote of 5-0. Members Lou Ann Homa and Adam Blythe were absent. The property tax rate will remain at 5.48 mills,
Tarentum residents in the First Ward will be represented by two familiar faces on council. Republican incumbents Lou Ann Homa and Ray Kerr were vying for two seats up for grabs, one a four-year term and the other a two-year term. Homa captured the four-year term, winning with 210 votes
A Tarentum councilman resigned his position Tuesday to become the borough’s temporary mayor. Adam Blythe, who represents the 2nd Ward, was appointed by council to serve as mayor until after the Nov. 2 election. The vote was 4-2, with Lou Ann Homa and Ray Kerr opposing. Neither Homa nor Kerr
Tarentum voters will have a choice for borough mayor in November.
Former borough police Officer Robert Lang, who lost the Democratic primary in May to current Councilwoman Carrie Fox, won the Republican nomination as a write-in.
Lang, a registered Democrat, said he will accept the Republican nomination but otherwise declined to comment.
The Democratic primary was a three-way race among Fox, Lang and incumbent Eric Carter.
Fox won with 160 votes, Lang was second with 144, and Carter came in third with 61 votes, according to official Allegheny County election results.
On the Republican ballot, more voters cast write-ins 144 in total than who voted for the unopposed Republican candidate, Stephanie Adams. Lang received 86 write-in votes, besting the 50 votes for Adams.