Waynesboro briefs

October 15, 2008|By JENNIFER FITCH

Township supervisors work on details of settlement with Gardners

WAYNESBORO, Pa. - The Washington Township (Pa.) Supervisors held a special meeting Tuesday to finalize the details of an agreement between the board and siblings Charles S. Gardner III and Letitia Gardner.

A divided board of supervisors recently agreed to support the Gardners as they work with the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation to gain use of an old restricted access road on Mount Dunlop in Blue Ridge Summit, Pa. Doing so will allow the Gardners to develop 12 houses on 72 acres of their forested land.

The supervisors and Gardners say they do not want the view of the mountaintop to be affected by clearing for houses. The Gardners agreed to donate about 19.5 acres of land for preservation and limit clearing of each housing lot to three-quarters of an acre.

Waynesboro school board to implement revised policy on bullying

WAYNESBORO, Pa. - Waynesboro Area School Board members are expected to start implementing a revised bullying policy at next Tuesday's meeting. They received a draft of the updated policy for review this week and must present it publicly twice before it goes into effect.

The Pennsylvania Legislature this summer changed the way that bullying is incorporated in public schools' codes of conduct and required that all incidents be reported to the state, according to Gloria Walker, interim superintendent in Waynesboro.

Waynesboro's revised policy would address cyber bullying, including what students post on Web sites from computers outside of school. Walker said actions outside of school can be punished if they create a threatening environment for other students.

Waynesboro school board hopes to keep tax increase within limits

WAYNESBORO, Pa. - School property taxes in the Waynesboro Area School District will not increase more than 4.295 mills in 2009-10 if the school board adopts a resolution on its agenda for discussion next Tuesday.

The board this week unofficially agreed to stay within a state index for the amount by which it can raise taxes. Exceeding a 4.295-mill increase would require the board to seek voter approval in the spring under Act 1 of 2006.

The maximum increase - 4.295 mills - could create about $970,000 in new revenue for the district, Business Administrator Caroline Dean said.

A mill represents $1 of every $1,000 assessed property value. That means a tax increase of 4.295 mills would translate into $73 of additional taxes for the average homeowner in the district, assuming the average home is assessed at $17,000.

"I would assume we could meet a budget within that index," board member Chris Devers said.

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