—— A - pA 27 SII mr ie a a rain BEY ERENT wir ll atl Vol. 103 No. 19 Dallas, PA Wednesday, May 13, 1992 35 Cents: { a. Inside Story SPORTS Slocum, ®oynton named all-division Sports page. Little League results Sports page. : School play at Ross Elementary Page 8. COMMUNITY Art auction for library Page 10. #/HARVEYS LAKE Craft contest Winners Page 6. Calendar............. 10 Classified........ 11-13 Editorials. ............ 4 Obituaries........... 13 Police report.......... 2 Schook.. war doit 8 SPOS... ln 9 CALL 675-5211 FOR HOME DELIVERY, NEWS OR ADVERTISING k 4 No tax hike in Dallas school budget By ERIC FOSTER Post Staff The Dallas School District won't need a tax increase to pay for the 1992-93 school year. Millage will remain the same at 158 mills in the tentative budget accepted unanimously by the school board at its meeting May 11. A mill is a $1 tax for every $1,000 of assessed valuation. Revenues for 1992-92 are budg- eted at $15,247,288, a 4.2% in- crease over this year. Expendi- tures are budgeted at $14,361,072, up 3.7% from this year. The dis- trict is projected to end the year with a reserve fund of $886,166 compared to $783,504 this year. Salaries and benefits are $9,262,891, or 64.5% of total expenditures. While the district expects to lose $151,436 in basic education sub- sidies from the state, the budget has more pleasant surprises than bad ones. Assessed value in the district increased by about $2 million this year said business manager Char- lotte Williams. That increase will bring an extra $298,029 in local tax revenue. According to Williams, that is the highest increase in assessed valuation since the 1987-88 school year. This year, the district expects to receive $112,467 more in special education funding than originally expected, bringing the total to $404,055. Though it still won't cover the entire cost of special education to the district, Williams said she expects the state subsidy for special education to increase to $677,500 for the 1992-93 school year. The district will also pay $127,617 less for instruction at the West Side Vocational-Techni- Offset Paperback marks 20th anniversary By GRACE R. DOVE Post Staff Who would think that more than 300 million books a year are produced right here in the Back Mountain? That's-about a million books a day, printed at Offset Paperback in Fernbrook. Incorporated in May, 1972, Offset has grown from a small company with two presses and 60 employees to the world's third largest paperback publisher. The company will mark its 20th anniversary with special cele- See OFFSET, pg 3 Ss photo/Grace R. Dove) KEEPING IT IN SHAPE - Maintenance superintendent Bob Pilger of Beaumont, right, dismantles a piece of equipment with Dan Fisher, left. Pilger was Offset Paperback’s first local employee. (Post Many Dallas Boro zones change in new code By GRACE R. DOVE Post Staff Dallas Borough property own- ers will have a chance to discuss proposed new zoning laws at a public hearing Wednesday, May 20. As part of the new plan, several areas of the borough will be reclas- sified to allow smaller lots and a new multi-family housing zone will be created. Several years in the making, the proposed ordinance was written by Marlene Pawlowski, a profes- sional urban planner with 32 years of experience in the field, a mas- ters degree in community plan- ning from the University of Penn- sylvania and additional graduate study at the Massachusetts Insti- tute of Technology. “As of late 1988, the State Municipal Planning Code has been vastly amended,” Ms. Pawlowski said. “As a result, local ordinances had to be updated in order to comply with the state codes and with certain mandated proce- dures.” She added that the old munici- pal planning code was more than 20 years old and had not been Lake-Lehman budget may include charges for some activities By GRACE R. DOVE Post Staff Lake-Lehman students may be paying for driver education train- ing and athletic equipment next year if budget cuts now being considered are adopted. At the school board's work ses- sion May 5, finance manager Ray Bowersox said that he is almost finished trying to trim costs from various programs for the upcom- ing school year. Bowersox said that he ap- proached two health insurance companies, Aetna and Travelers, for figures on the teachers’ dental and vision care packages for next year. “Although actual dollaramounts are not available yet, am optomis- tic that we can obtain the same health care for less money,” he said. The district currently uses Blue Cross-Blue Shield of North- eastern Pennsylvania for its health care package. Bowersox said that that the high school's driver theory and driver education classes will be retained, but students will probably have to pay for the driver ed course. Driver education offers behind- the-wheel training and will run only after school and on week- ends. “We don't have the price set yet. It's a flat rate determined by guidelines in the Public School Code,” he said. Administrators are also consid- ering other activities cuts, includ- ing asking athletes to reimburse the school for some of their equip- ment or uniforms. Bowersox ex- STUDENTS WANT TO RECYCLE Back Page plained that the school already obtains substantial discounts and maintains uniformity in styles by buying in quantity. Other cost-cutting measures may include using adult volun- teers as classroom aides and using two-way video for specialized classes. Superintendent Nancy Davis explained that the school could offer many more specialized courses for small groups of stu- dents by utilizing a satellite televi- sion service and the district's ex- isting satellite system. The satel- lite service is cheaper than a teacher's salary and benefits. Mrs. Davis also has suggested using senior citizen volunteers as resource persons in the elemen- tary schools. “Senior citizens are an untapped community resource, offering a wealth of experience from many backgrounds,” she said. “They're also very patient.” Solicitor Peter Savage added that the district might be able to gener- ate additional revenues next year by enacting an amusement tax or a tax on the golf courses. School board president Liz Si- chler promised to make all budget meetings open to the public. “We will have more accurate dollar fig- ures once the state passes its final budget,” she said. PUBLIC HEARING WED., MAY 20, 7 P.M. amended since its adoption. Under the old code, for example, zoning or subdivision violations could be referred by the police or zoning officer to a magistrate as summary (minor) offenses under the criminal code, punishable by a fine of less than $300. They now are a misdemeanor under the civil code, punishable by a fine which can include a spe- cific amount that must be paid for every day until the violation is corrected, according to District Magistrate Earl Gregory. Since a large portion of parts of the borough were originally spot- zoned, Pawlowski recommended creation of a whole new ordinance. “We had to use the tax maps to locate all the different lot sizes, land uses and neighborhood popu- lation densities so that we could try to standardize them,” Pawlow- ski continued. Rezoning an area including parts of Main, Market, Ridge and Fran- klin Streets from R-1 (medium- density residential) to R-3 (high- cal School because of declining enrollment for a total of $388,350.’ Transportation was also a bright: spot. Bids for bus service for the 1991-92 year came in $40,000 less than originally expected. The! budget predicts bus service will, cost $10,000 more in 1992-93, or! $650,000. : The district has set aside the $130,000 in excess state funds it: See NO TAX HIKE, pg 14" Water rate protest beginning By ERIC FOSTER Post Staff. = By Tuesday, May 12, about 100 letters of protest over the Dallas Water Company's proposed rate increase had already been picked up at the Dallas Borough Office to send to the Pennsylvania Public] Utility Commission (PUC). Dallas Borough manager, Mil- ton Lutsey, requested lengthy for- mal complaint forms through Senator Charles Lemmond's office and distilled the information into letters that residents can send to, the company to protest the rate hike. Office hours at the borough building are 9 a.m. to noon week- days, but the letters have alsobeen See WATER RATE, pg 3 density residential with multi- family homes) makes it possible to develop existing vacant parcels of land as multi-family units, she said. Two-and multi-family units are presently scattered througout this area. Rezoning several areas from R- 1 to R-2 or R-2A does not pave the way for more subdividing of lots and more homes, Pawlowski said. It attempts to standardize the lot sizes and housing units located in these areas. See DALLAS ZONE, pg 14 Health Fair planned at Meadows The Dallas Lions Health Fair will be held at the Meadows Complex in Dallas, on Thursday, May 14, from 10 a.m. until 2 p.m. Pictured above from left are, Dr. David Spring, Art Menichillo, Dr. Jay B. Tanner, Dr. Cynthia Ken- nelly, Dr. Josph Toole and David Fitch. Absent from photo are Jim Roberts and Mrs. Peggy Sailus. The Dallas Lions wish to promote good health throughout the community. Lehman may stagger school day Elementary, older students would have different hours By GRACE R. DOVE Post Staff Lake-Lehman administrators are giving serious consideration to instituting a two-tier busing sys- tem and shortening of the school day as cost-cutting measures for the 1992-93 school year. According to Superintendent Nancy Davis, implementing the new busing system would save the district between 10 and 12 tax mills, or approximately $250,000 in 1992-93. Under the present system, buses transport all students to school at the same time for a 7-1/4 hour day, one of the longest school days in the area. Kindergarten students attend all day. Under the proposed new sys- tem, students in grades 7-12 would start school at 7:45 a.m. and be dismissed at 2 p.m., while elemen- tary students would startat 9 a.m. and be dismissed at 3:15 p.m. “We must follow the new school regulations, which emphasize student competencies rather than having spent a specific number of clock hours in class,” Mrs. Davis explained. “Shortening the school day does not mean eliminating valuable instructional time." Elementary students would lose recess time and extra snack breaks, which Mrs. Davis calls “down time,” while the high school would switch from an eight-period day to seven periods. Students would be able to take six major courses and gym, in- stead of seven, affecting only 10 percent of the students, according to high school principal Bob Ol- See LEHMAN, pg 14
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