CLINTON TWP — Residents packed the municipal building for the monthly supervisors meeting on Wednesday night, Nov. 13, mostly to raise their concerns about a proposed fire hydrant tax.

The ordinance was approved during a township work session Oct. 28 after a public hearing, and is intended to help the township make up the cost of maintaining its fire hydrant system, which is managed by Pennsylvania American Water.

The new tax will be calculated by assessing all properties that are within 780 feet of a fire hydrant, and the township estimates the tax would collect $12,160.56 per year.

Township solicitor John Bench said during Wednesday night’s hearing that the proposed tax would be a way to pass the cost of maintaining the hydrant system onto residents who have a hydrant near their property instead of those who don’t.

“In past years we’ve had landowners and taxpayers helping to pay for this who have had no benefit of the hydrants,” Bench said. “Everyone who gets the benefit of the hydrants is going to be chipping in for this.”

Township Supervisor Jason Davidek defended the proposed tax as a way for the township to balance its budget without resorting to a larger-scale tax increase.

“This board, prior to me, has been very fiscally prudent over the years in not raising taxes,” said Jason Davidek, who joined the board this January. “We face inflationary pressures on costs like everyone does. Philosophically, we certainly don’t want to look at raising taxes or anything on a broad scale. But if there are incremental user fees that can be passed on to make sure we can provide a balanced budget and provide for essential services, that’s more palatable to me.”

Some residents raised concern that their neighborhood, the Plantation at Saxonburg, would be hard-hit by the assessment due to the proliferation of fire hydrants in a relatively compact area.

In response, Bench clarified that residents who have more than one hydrant within a 780-foot radius of their property will not be charged more than once.

Bench added that the township would not make a profit from the tax, as the annual cost of maintaining the fire hydrants is between $10,000 and $12,000.

According to Bench, there are 351 properties in Clinton Township within 780 feet of a fire hydrant. Ironically, two of those properties are owned by the township itself.

“We own two properties that are within 780 feet,” Bench said. “So the township itself is paying its own share.”

Township manager Ashley Kohley clarified that, while the ordinance to enable the hydrant tax has been passed, the township has not yet enacted a resolution to enforce the tax, nor has it set a millage rate.

“The ordinance was passed last month, but the assessment hasn’t been set yet to be passed by resolution,” Kohley said.

Bench said that a resolution may be passed at next month’s regular supervisors meeting, to be held Dec. 11.