SUGARCREEK BOROUGH, Pa. (EYT) — The Sugarcreek Borough Council took the first step towards giving volunteer firefighters living in the borough a tax credit when they authorized borough solicitor Brian Spaid to draft an ordinance to be presented to the council at its November 1 2017, meeting.

Under a law (Act 172 of 2016) passed by the Pennsylvania Legislature, municipalities can give active volunteer firefighters a tax credit.

According to Spaid and borough manager Joe Sporer, that tax credit can either be a real estate tax credit or an earned income tax credit (EIC) or a combination of both.

“Under the real estate tax credit, you can give them (volunteers) up to 20 percent of their property tax back,” Spaid said. “It can be anything from one percent to 20 percent, although most municipalities are giving 20 percent back.”

In order to qualify, a volunteer firefighter would need to have their permanent residence within Sugarcreek Borough and be living at the property.

Under the EIC, a municipality can give back up to 100 percent of the income tax paid by a volunteer firefighter or set a flat amount to return to the volunteer, according to Spaid.

“Borough residents pay a one percent income tax,” Spaid said. “Half of that goes to the school district, so you could give back up to ½ percent of what they pay back.”

Borough resident Charlie McDaniel, who is running for mayor in November asked if he could speak from the crowd as the presumptive new mayor. McDaniel is both the Republican and Democratic nominee.

McDaniel said he was in favor of the real estate tax credit but not the EIC because as a businessman he is aware of how difficult it is to calculate employee tax credit deductions.

Sporer gave examples under both scenarios.

“Say someone’s income was $50,000.00. If that was the case, $250.00 would be the max EIC they could get back. If they owned a $75,000.00 house based on our current millage rate, they would be eligible to receive $90.00 back. For a $50,000.00 home, it would be $60.00 back, and for a $150,000.00 home, it would be a maximum of $180.00 based on them getting the full 20 percent back,” explained Sporer.

Sporer said considering the number of volunteer firefighters who would be eligible for a tax credit, he anticipates it would cost the borough between $2,000.00 and $5,000.00.

“The one thing to keep in mind is it is never going to be equal for each firefighter,” Spaid said. “Each one will get a different amount depending on their income or property value. That is just the way the law is written.”

Councilman Larry Baughman said he believed the borough’s ordinance should be for the real estate tax credit at the 20 percent value, and the rest of the council agreed to instruct Spaid to draft the ordinance that way.

Councilman Robert Resinger asked how it would be determined that a firefighter is an active volunteer.

“That will all be written into the ordinance,” Spaid said. “It will be on the fire chiefs at both Reno and Rocky Grove to have to make those determinations. And there will be penalties — up to a first-degree misdemeanor or a $2,500.00 fine — if the information isn’t correct. So, the chiefs will have to keep certain records, and it will be the responsibility of them and the firefighters to get us the information.”

It was also noted that the refund would come after the person paid their taxes and would not be part of the initial tax bill.

The next step in the process will be for the council to approve the language in the ordinance at its November 1 meeting. At that point, a public hearing will need to be held where borough residents can give the council feedback on the proposed ordinance.

Spaid suggested that the hearing should be held at 6:00 p.m. on November 15 prior to the 7:00 p.m. council meeting that night at the borough building in the council chambers.

Resinger suggested the meeting should be moved to the Rocky Grove Fire Hall due to the potential of a large crowd. But the rest of the council believed the borough building would be fine, and if the crowd was too large for the council chambers, the meeting could be moved into the borough’s garage on the property.

Once the ordinance has been advertised and the public hearing has been held, the council must then wait 30 days before voting on the ordinance.

“With this time frame, you are looking at December 20 as an adoption date,” Spaid said. “That would be sufficient time to enact it.”

POLICE OFFICERS TO HOLD FILL-YOUR-CAR EVENT OCTOBER 28 AT WALMART

Police chief Matt Carlson announced that police officer Ryan Ashbaugh will hold a fill-your-car-style food drive from Noon to 4:00 p.m. on Saturday, October 28, at the Walmart in Cranberry Township.

Officer Ashbaugh will park a police car in front of Walmart with signs asking for donations of food or other household goods and fill up the car. Once the drive is over, the food and goods will be delivered to The Community Service of Venango County, which is celebrating its 50th anniversary the first week of November.

According to Carlson, the preferred location was Giant Eagle on Route 8, but that wasn’t possible because of management’s concerns about “solicitation” issues.

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