OCTOBER 18 - OCTOBER 24, 2019
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VOLUME 4 ISSUE 42
CAR. TR. MKTG MAIL US POSTAGE PAID PERMIT NO. 244 BRADFORD, PA
L I L V E G SP RIN TIMES
The official newspaper of the Town of Concord, and the Village of Springville. Serving Springville, the surrounding communities and Springville-Griffith Institute Central Schools
Town of Concord looking at 5.5% tax hike for 2020 By Kellen M. Quigley Residents of the town of Concord could be looking at a tax increase of about 5.5 percent in 2020 after approval by the town board during its regular October meeting. Before the meeting Oct. 10, the Concord Town Board held a public hearing concerning the preliminary 2020 town budget, which includes going over the state tax cap for the second consecutive year. The total appropriations for the 2020 budget are $3,590,721.07, which includes the general fund, highway fund, joint van and youth funds and the library fund. Although the budget is up about $60,000 from last year, the town is applying $70,000 less from its shrinking fund balance, which is part of why the town decided to exceed the tax cap. Town Supervisor Clyde Drake said the town’s fund balances are getting down to levels that he considers “almost
dangerous.” As a town board, he said they are looking at several ways to rebuild those to what he thinks is an acceptable level. “For many years, we’ve lived off the fund balance that we have, and we no longer have the fund balance to apply to the budget,” said Drake. “That’s the main reason for the increase in the taxes.” The tax levy for 2020 is to be $1,173,123.60, about a 5.5 percent increase from the current year. Drake said the tax levy would see about a $22 increase for a home assessed at $40,000. He said since the average house in Concord is valued at about $66,000, taxes would see an average increase of $36.32 per household. “There is no longer a penalty for going over the tax cap,” he said. “One of the reasons we started to use the fund balance to keep the town from getting penalized. It’s sort of coming back to bite us now, but it seemed like
the right thing to do at the time.” Drake said some neighboring municipalities also went over the tax cap by more than Concord. He said the town board was originally looking at about a 7.8 percent increase and knocked it down to 5.5 percent. “I think we could have stayed under (the tax cap),” said town councilman William Snyder, who voted against going over the tax cap. “I recognize a lot of the work that went into this, and we came to a lot of agreements and a lot of adjustments were made in the right direction. … We’re close, but I think we could have gotten there.” Looking forward, the town board is going to look at ways to build up the fund balance to a healthy level without having to do major tax increases to better control it in the future. Denise Ciszak, secretary for the town supervisor, said if the town continued to keep taking from the
Olean, Pantuso run past SGI in Week 6 football action
Times file photo
fund balance without going over the tax cap, in a couple of years there would be nothing left to take from and the town residents could be hit with a tax increase of 20 percent or higher. “That’s where we’ve got to stop,” she said. “The new tax cap was all well and good, but it wasn’t realistic.” For changes in the budget, slightly more than
$20,000 in increases is going toward a 2.5 percent wage increase to town employees, Drake said. Another increase comes from what the town pays for the Control Center went up about $25,000. “It’s up 9 percent from last year, at no fault of this board at all,” said councilman Phil Drozd. “Our hands are tied on that. We don’t own any of that. We have to stay
here.” Additionally, a retirement fund for firefighters went up about $24,000. In the highway department, $5,000 was added to equipment repair and road repairs for town roads went up by $15,000. Highway Superintendent Denny Dains said the increase is based on the increase in the oil index.
Joylan Theater opens this week
Photo Jaime Dickinson Springville’s Eric Pruitt receives a pass during the Griffins’ Pink Out football game against Olean on Friday night.
Nick Pantuso ran for 155 yards and three touchdowns on 15 carries to power Olean (33) over Springville on Oct. 11 in high school football action, 34-7, in Springville.
Codie Tidd added a pair of touchdowns — one each rushing and receiving — to help the Huskies build a 27-0 halftime lead. Nick Fratercangelo led the OHS defense with nine tackles.
Alex Elkins had 72 yards rushing, 79 passing and scored a touchdown on the ground in the third quarter for Springville after Olean had built a 34-0 lead. Eric Pruitt led See Football page 7
Photo by Kellen M. Quigley The recently renovated Joylan Theater on Main Street in Springville opened its doors for the first time in nearly two months with an open house, ribbon-cutting ceremony and special Halloween movie showing for the community, held after press time Wednesday. Regular movie showings were expected to continue Thursday with “Maleficent: Mistress of Evil.” Full coverage of the theater reopening will appear in next week’s edition.
A Look Back: The Days of the Trolley Car By Jolene Hawkins
Looking Back in the old local newspapers, I discovered that in the 1900s, trolley cars were found in larger towns and cities. Now in my mind, this was a safe way to travel within the town. Boy, was I wrong! There are reports of wagons and trollies colliding, horses and trollies, people falling
off the trolley… wow. We had a local person, J.M.C. Bargar, who was visiting his daughter in Ithaca that was in one of these accidents, and I thought I would share his story here. In September of 1920, Mr. and Mrs. Barger left their home on Woodward Avenue, here in Springville, to go and visit their daughter Mrs. VanVolkenburg in Ithaca. After having a visit with them they boarded the Trolley #49 and were heading back, along with students from Cornell and other local patrons of the trolley, around 40 people. Now you have to
remember this was before seatbelts, airbags and safety equipment. Windows could be open fully, you could stand up if you choose, which according to report, many were, or even walk about (if you had good balance) or sit. Items could be laid on the seat or underneath the seat. The trolley, nearing the top of a steep hill on Eddy street, near the university entrance arch, started to roll backward down the grade and slowly gained momentum until it was hitting speeds of at least 70 miles per hour. The motorman in the back, Bernard J Wefer, struggled with the brakes, but the car kept gathering momentum. With people standing and
moving, he was pushed off the moving trolley onto the pavement. The trolley derailed and plunged into a tree, in front of the private residence of Mr. and Mrs. Claude Baldwin. The impact left the tree standing nearly in the middle of the car, which was split lengthwise. This was the worse in history for the town. The rear and interior of the car were completely demolished, and the seats were jammed together in a mass of wreckage. David McGowan, who was a passenger on the trolley, jumped from the car before it reached the end, and broke his arm. He then walked three blocks to Dr. I.M. Ungers office and
notified them of the wreck. The doctor then raced to the scene. Reports from several passengers state that the motorman had tried to stop on the street before to take on more passengers and the brakes failed to hold. As the car slipped and gained speed, the doors were closed and they begged the conductor to open them
and when he did, several jumped out as fast as they could. Those on the front and rear platform who did not care to risk a jump were being pushed off the car by those behind them that did. Those that did jump had their clothes torn and many broke their arms or legs. Over 16 people were injured. J.M.C. Bargar See A Look Back page 3