Lehigh Township increases taxes to help pay for park improvements

Lehigh Township homeowners face a 63 percent property tax increase in 2007 to help pay for parks improvements and badly needed maintenance buildings, supervisors decided Tuesday.

Part of the tax hike would cover debt payments on two projects that total roughly $4 million: creating Delps Road Park, and replacing the township's nearly 50-year-old public works building and its 20-year-old shed for road salt, Township Manager Jeff Bartlett said.

The wooden salt shed has all but collapsed, and the public works building isn't in much better shape. Its garage bays are so small that trucks with snowplows won't fit inside, Bartlett said. Replacing both buildings will cost roughly $2.25 million.

With all supervisors agreeing on that project, the question was whether to also begin work on the 47-acre Delps Road Park.

Creating the park will cost roughly $1.8 million, Bartlett said.

More here.