The board of trustees of Butler County Community College deserves a thumbs-up for its decision to not increase tuition for the upcoming academic year.

The decision reflects good fiscal management as well as less pressure in terms of needed building and site improvements. Spending on building and site improvements is targeted to be $52,000 under the 2007-08 budget; that spending was listed as $796,000 for the 2006-07 fiscal year.

For county students, the tuition will remain at $91 per credit, including fees. Tuition and fees for Pennsylvania students from outside the county will be $146 per credit.

Out-of-state students will pay $219.

Enrollment for the coming fall was reported to be down about 7 percent from this point last year, but there is time for that figure to change.

The college's spring enrollment was down about 3 percent, but summer enrollment was up slightly more than 1 percent.

The cost of attending the college is a bargain when compared with costs at many other institutions of higher learning. It projects a positive message that BC3 is able to provide a quality education without imposing big, annual financial burdens on its students.

Motorists who endured the challenges of deteriorated West Penn Street for years are no doubt grateful for the new road surface on which they now are able to ride.As the old pavement was being removed, people could see the extent of the patchwork that had been done on the street over the years — and why the street had been such a rough, uncomfortable experience for those using it.As part of the installation of the new road surface, manholes were brought into line with that surface.Officials of the Butler Area Sewer Authority and state Department of Transportation should visit the street to see the results of a project done correctly.BASA still hasn't fixed recessed manholes on important city roadways such as Jefferson Street, and PennDOT has allowed the situation to persist.The city has been deserving of plenty of criticism regarding the condition of many streets and for being slow to demand repairs from utilities that have torn up streets to repair leaks or fix other problems.However, West Penn Street is evidence of what can be done and what can be done correctly.Too bad the city doesn't have the money to greatly expand its street-repair efforts this year.

There appear to be numerous culprits in the controversy over the intersection of Carbon Center and St. Wendelin roads in Summit Township.If what the Summit Township supervisors are saying is correct, the state Department of Transportation should have done better homework in 2005 in connection with a project in which a one-lane bridge was replaced with a two-lane bridge just west of the intersection.Meanwhile, the supervisors merit criticism for not taking the time to monitor the bridge project prior to and during the time when the work was taking place. Their lack of involvement helped pave the way for the current situation.Now also meriting criticism — and possibly ticketing from police — are the drivers who have been traveling at what some people say are unsafe speeds through the area, despite the alleged problems there.That unsafe driving is part of the reason why some residents of Summit and neighboring Clearfield Township are asking for action by Summit to correct what they regard as a hazardous condition.The Summit supervisors claim that when PennDOT replaced the bridge, the highway agency encroached onto private property and the township's right of way when it also widened a portion of Carbon Center Road at the intersection. The supervisors said a survey of the area verifies what they are saying.Rod Scott, township roadmaster, said the township did some work at or near the intersection. People unhappy with how the project turned out say that the intersection now is too narrow for two vehicles to negotiate a curve and they want the township to widen it.A township supervisors meeting Wednesday at which the issue was discussed didn't resolve it. Instead, the supervisors' stance suggests it will not be resolved quickly.The situation could have been avoided if PennDOT and the township had worked together closely throughout the project.It would seem that some belated discussion and remedial work now is in order.