Williamsport City Council approved the Department of Community and Economic Development taking $2,000 from legislative contingency fund toward a match of a $10,
KAREN VIBERT-KENNEDY/Sun-Gazette
Lose Park in Williamsport on Thursday morning.
City Council authorized a contract for about $31,655 with Larson Design Group for a design for Lose Park, a planned project with $395,000 of investment for improvements to the park along Memorial Avenue.
The project and improvements will be paid for through the city obtaining a $145,000 grant from the state Department of Conservation and Natural Resources and use of prior year Community Development Block Grant of $250,000, said Skip Memmi, city director of economic and community development.
Improvements are expected at the basketball court. Trees will be planted and seating will be put around a pavilion. Access to the park from Memorial Avenue will be improved. Drawings of the improvements are expected to be provided soon to the public works committee, said Councilwoman Bonnie Katz.
It’s over but it’s not.
City Council passed a half-mill real estate tax increase and approved Mayor Derek Slaughter’s $29 million 2021 budget Thursday, but with an eye toward reopening the budget in January to see if further reductions to the size of tax millage increase can take place.
Council and the administration set the tax rate at 16.22 mills, but upon getting information from Norman Lubin, city solicitor, learned it had to before Feb. 15 to reopen, discuss options and adopt the reopened budget.
If nothing is done, the half-mill is $50 more per tax bill for households assessed at $100,000.
To reach a quarter-mill would require finding $217,000 more in reductions or a combination of revenue or cut in staff, Council President Randall J. Allison said.