By Mark Gilger
The News-Item
SUNBURY — Approximately 40 union county correctional officers will receive raises the next three years as a result of a collective bargaining agreement approved Tuesday by commissioners.
Full-time employees represented by the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, AFL-CIO Local 2016, Council 86, will receive 50-cent hourly raises under the new contract that runs from Jan. 1, 2015, to Dec. 31, 2017. Part-time union correctional officers will have their hourly rates increase by 25 cents.
Approving the contract were Commissioners Richard Shoch, Vinny Clausi and Stephen Bridy.
In other business, the commissioners appointed county Treasurer Kevin Gilroy to serve as acting tax collector for Marion Heights, pending the expected approval by borough council members.
The commissioners said Gilroy will receive two percent of each tax bill collected. The former rate was three percent.
After the meeting, Northumberland County Chief Assessor Al Bressi said former borough tax collector Jan Costello resigned and nobody wanted to take the job.
Bressi explained that the number of municipal tax collectors in the county are decreasing. Currently, there are 34 tax collectors in the county.
Commissioners accepted the settlement of an assessment appeal by Resilite Sports Products Inc., Northumberland.
According to Bressi, the appeal was made in the fall of 2014 and takes effect this year. The settlement changes the market value of the business from $969,636 to $780,000, and the assessed value from $293,800 to $236,340.
Bressi said Northumberland County will lose approximately $1,400 as a result of the settlement. Northumberland Borough and Shikellamy Area School District will lose $1,600 and $4,600, respectively.
The board authorized the Northumberland County Authority to proceed with providing one-time grants to Coal Township for its Arch Street Recreation Project and Shamokin for roof repairs at the American Legion building.
Shamokin Police Chief Darwin Tobias III was appointed to the Local Emergency Planning Commission for a one-year term. Clausi, David Bogovich, Bill Brown, Terry Brown, James Chamberlain, Debby Frey, Dale Henry, Stephen Jeffery, Bernie Klusman, Edna Reinard, Fred Scharf, Lori Smoogen, Dennis Wright and Jason Zimmerman were reappointed to the commission for one-year terms.
A motion by Clausi to reappoint Coal Township Commissioner Craig Fetterman to a five-year term on the Northumberland County Authority failed for lack of a second. After the meeting, Bridy said he didn’t second Clausi’s motion because he thought Fetterman had already served 10 years on the board instead of five.
The board agreed to lease new office space (Room 203) at the Northumberland County Career and Arts Center in Shamokin to Brush Valley Regional Chamber of Commerce for $1 per year.