4 TI TT.
iv VI WV = ee
January 23, 1980
Part of the group at Marietta’s first community social
Lively group for Marietta’s first social
Although the group was
small, the enthusiasm was
great at the first community
social in Marietta this past’
Saturday night. The event,
sponsored by the Human
Relations Council (recently
organized by Mayor J.
Robert Flanagan), was an
effort to open up lines of
communication among var-
ious sectors of the commun-
ity.
Citizens of various back-
grounds met, including
many of the youth, at the
Marietta Jaycee center,
where supervised entertain-
ment and refreshments
were included in the
program. Members of the
Human Relations Council
are: Jacklyn Madsen, Rose-
mary Patterson, Debbie
Ziesloft, Patrick Kenney Jr.,
and Ken Ross.
Prizes were awarded for a
dance contest. There was
also a door prize given out.
The youth put up Valentine
Jay Roberts (cont.)
[continued from back page]
threatened by a possible
cut-off in federal revenue-
sharing funds. And inflation
is rapidly eating into what
remains.
“It’s a tricky situation,”
Roberts says. ‘‘This year,
we increased the millage tax
by four mills. That revenue
has already been lost for the
next two years because of
higher trash collection costs
and the demolished cruiser.
‘‘Marietta has just about
reached its limit in terms of
growth,”” he continues,
‘““and right now, the chal-
lenge is to provide adequate
services with the really
inadequate revenues that
are available.”
But sooner or later, he
thinks, the borough must
either cut services or raise
taxes.
‘““We are fast approaching
the 35-mill limit set by state
law,”’ he says (Currently,
the property tax is pegged at
23 mills). ‘‘Reassessment is
not a popular idea, but I
would support it.”
Right now, owners of two
equally valuable houses
can pay drastically different
taxes, because one house is
under the old, lower assess-
ment, he notes. Roberts
thinks that is unfair.
He says, ‘Reassessment
would raise some people’s
taxes, but it would lower
other people’s taxes. Be-
cause—and a lot of tax-
payers don’t realize this—it
would mean that the millage
could come down.”’
Roberts has been talking
to local Congressmen and
Representatives, urging
them to back an extension of
the federal revenue-sharing
program. And the borough
has decided to chase all the
federal project dollars it can
get, whatever the project.
A boost in the per capita
tax is also possible. Since
half of Marietta residents
rent, rather than own, their
homes, a per capita tax hike
might relieve some pressure
on homeowners.
A real estate transfer tax
is another possibility. Un-
fortunately, because of state
regulations, it would also
cut into the school district’s
share of the tax pie, possibly
causing a hike in school
decorations and arranged
the tables with candles and
fresh flowers.
Cindy Beaston, one of the
youths who helped to
decorate, remarked that she
felt very good about helping
out. She was in charge of the
door prize tickets.
Although Johnny Welsh
wouldn’t dance himself, he
remarked that ‘‘this is fun. I
like watching other people
dance!”’
Cindy Barr and Tracey
taxes.
On the positive side,
Roberts expects the master
street program to get
underway this summer.
Streets will be totally
reconstructed. The ‘‘tricky’’
part of this program,
Roberts says, is the curbing
requirements.
Since damaged or non-
existent curbing could wash
out the new streets, some
homeowners will face big
curb repair bills. Roberts
says, ‘I'm looking at 100
feet of curbing that I'm
going to have to put in. I'm
not thrilled about it, as a
property owner, but I
understand why it has to be
done.”
A new housing code will
be another accomplishment
of the current council,
Roberts says. “We will
re-write and update the code
in such a way that it will be
cheaper for the landlord to
provide decent and ade-
quate housing than it will be
for the landlord to let the
property deteriorate,”” he
says.
A crackdown on aband-
oned vehicles and high
Witmer also told us that
they were having a good
time, and Tracey’s sister
Trudy said, ‘‘The adults are
pretty good.’’
A ‘“‘Meet the Police”
night is planned at the same
location for January 29. It is
open to the public.
The committee welcomes
suggestions and comments
from residents. Residents
may call committee mem-
bers at 426-1441 and
426-1126.
grass is also coming,
Roberts promises. ‘‘Any
complaints received by the
new council will be investi-
gated, and if substantiated,
they will be acted upon,’ he
says.
To encourage citizen part-
icipation in Council de-
cisions, Roberts is extend-
ing an open invitation to
any citizen to sit in on
committee meetings.
On the subject of youth
programs, Robert says, ‘‘I
can see steady progress
being made. I would like to
see youth get involved in the
borough itself.
“If we can get our good
youth—which there’s plenty
of in Marietta—involved,
they’ll police their own
ranks. We don’t have any
bad youth, I might add. We
just have youth with idle
time on their hands.
‘From my involvement in
the borough police force, I
can say that most of the
crime in the borough,
above the mischief level, is
not committed by local
youth. It’s done by out-
siders, or outside leaders.”
Restoration Associates
(cont.)
[continued from back page]
formation.
Information relating to
historic districts, tax incent-
ives, etc., will also be
available.
To generate public aware-
ness of this center, a series
of evening lecture-demon-
strations and workshops
related to restoration, an-
tiques and historical crafts is
currently being scheduled.
These sessions will be held
throughout the months of
February, March and April,
and they will be open to the
public free of charge.
The first of these series is
on the art of stencilling and
will be held Monday
evening, January 28 at 7:30
pm. It will be presented by
Ken Fortney, well-known in
the area as a master of this
process. Fortney, a Marietta
resident and operator of
Earthly Delights, a coffee
shop in town, has stencilled
over 60 homes in the York
and Lancaster area. He has
also done three local
restaurants.
He has a large collection
of original Victorian stencils
which participants will have
the opportunity to trace at
the session.
You need not be a
Marietta resident to attend
these workshops, but you
should make a reservation
for any particular session
you are interested in by
calling 426-1694.
Future workshops will
include such topics as:
Brass-Rubbing (Feb. 3S);
furniture refinishing, Mar-
ietta antiques and a variety
of other topics to be
announced through the
Times in the near future. If
you are interested in a
listing of these topics,
contact the Associates at the
number listed above.
HOLLINGER OIL
SERVICE
ARCO HEATING OIL
ARCO &
HEATING & AIR
CONDITIONING
or nme ——
SALES & SERVICE ~~ -
FREE ESTIMATES—
CALL 653-4484
807 WEST MAIN STREET, MOUNT JOY, PA
SUSQUEHANNA TIMES —Page 5
NOTICE
| Effective February 4, 1980
All Marietta
Home Building and Loan
Accounts will be
processed at the new
Marietta office located at
Rt. 441
& Colebrook Road
Marietta, PA
Savings insured to $40,000