Board Gets Annexation Report

By Eric Hrin, The Daily Review, Towanda, Pa.

Jul. 30–The Canton Area School Board heard an update recently on its effort to try to annex the elementary school property into the borough.

Earlier, district Superintendent Jeff Johnston said the annexation would help out the district with police coverage.

Borough police cover the high school since it’s in Canton Borough; however, state police are used for the elementary school since it’s in Canton Township. The land concerned is about 14 acres. With the annexation, borough police could be used for everything. “It would make more sense to have everything under one entity — meaning the borough,” Johnston said.

The district has been circulating petitions so it can place a question on the annexation before voters in the fall election. On the petitions, the district needs 31 signatures of township residents and 23 from the borough.

According to Johnston, about 45 signatures have been obtained in the township, and about 25 in the borough. Mathew Brann, the solicitor for the borough and the school board, has also obtained signatures in the borough, the work session minutes note. “We have a sufficient number for both the township and the borough,” Brann said, when asked for comment last week.

Johnston said that the petitions need to be notarized and mailed by Aug. 6 to the county election bureau.

The residents of the borough and the residents of the township have to approve the annexation for it to take place. The majority in both municipalities have to approve the question on the fall ballot.

The annexation is revenue-neutral, since Canton Township wouldn’t lose any taxes because the land is tax-exempt.

Also during the work session, these items were discussed, according to the minutes:

— District Business Manager Mark Jannone said that the board asked him to prepare a resolution stating that, if the voters are in favor of eliminating the Occupation Assessment Tax this fall, the board would, in return, eliminate the Per Capita taxes. This would be done without increasing any other tax to offset the loss of revenue from the Per Capita Taxes. Jannone said it would come into effect in the 2009 tax year.

— Jannone talked about a 403B plan, which is a voluntary retirement plan an employee pays into. According to Jannone, as a result of recent IRS law changes, the board must adopt a new plan document with additional guidelines for accountability, tracking of the funds and guidelines for the third-party administrator. A resolution coming before the board states that the district will comply with the IRS regulations regarding 403B, the minutes note.

— Johnston said a revision to the board-approved employee desk reference is necessary because of a change in carrier for workers’ compensation. The list of physicians has changed. The new carrier has more to choose from. Jannone said the reason for the switch was because of a savings — $6,000 per year with the new carrier.

Eric Hrin can be reached at (570) 297-5251; e-mail: reviewtroy@thedailyreview.com

—–

To see more of The Daily Review or to subscribe to the newspaper, visit http://www.thedailyreview.com.

Copyright (c) 2008, The Daily Review, Towanda, Pa.

Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services.

For reprints, email tmsreprints@permissionsgroup.com, call 800-374-7985 or 847-635-6550, send a fax to 847-635-6968, or write to The Permissions Group Inc., 1247 Milwaukee Ave., Suite 303, Glenview, IL 60025, USA.