Pictured are one of the light poles that were recently installed at the "new" River Park. The question is, will these lights be turned or or have they been turned on and who will pay for the electric use? Apparently during the planning stage and construction, it wasn't discussed who will pay the the electric use and where the money will come from.
37 comments:
Only in Columbia. I amn sure this will take up hours of meeting time at future council meetings.
yes, yes, how to pay for the electric lights was dicussed. Smith's Hotel owners would like to pay the bill.
This was discussed at last weeks Finance meeting. The committee discussed adding meters to the River Park parking lot to help generate revenue to pay the bill but madam Pelosi will not hear of it.
Also at the meeting it was asked why we have lights at a park that closes from dusk to dawn, as it is posted. Seems that is not completely true. Apparently we are making exceptions for a certain group of people, the island cottage owners. The boat ramp is open 24 hours a day, it never closes but the park does. So the taxpayers are now burdened with paying for the lighting so the elitist cottage owners can come and go as they please, 24 hours a day from the cabins to the River Park!
Since it seems our governing body is extremely short sighted when it comes to planning, shouldn't this have come to light before the lights were put in and someone throw up a red flag.
Maybe the cottages need to be assessed and the owners/squatters can pay their share of property taxes like the rest of us. (and if you already pay taxes on your primary residence--good for you! So do the rest of us. We don't need to hear about it. Anyone else with a second property is expected to pay property taxes on both. Period. This loophole needs to close.) I am sure this would generate enough revenue to cover the lights (as well as help some of the shortfalls in the school and boro budgets.
It's my understanding that Mrs. Wickenheiser has a place on one of the islands, so any involvement by her in this project could possibly be construed as a conflict of interest. Boaters have access to the park 24-7, but the rest of us can only be there until dusk? I don't want to be a naysayer, but those rules are unfair.
it's an easy fix - the lights can be solar powered and Mary can help get a green money grant form the County
and yes - cottage owners should be assessed some little extra annual tax to help fund community river park events :)
pk
Uh, no, cottage owners shouldn't be assessed "some little extra annual tax," they should pay the full assessed property tax on their property just like the rest of us.
helloooo-cottage owners ALREADY pay taxes - most of them at 2 residences in this Boro !!!!! where have you been they talked about it at council mtg. and do you remember, MANAGEMENT voted themselves ANOTHER raise at June council mtg. DID ANYBODY HEAR THAT?????
do the island people pay taxes? mary are you listening????
hello-i think mary and leo and norm wanted the river park-no one else-with this boro in debt for almost $ 5 million dollars, i think they-council could have spent OUR money a little more wisely. barry-have you gotten caught up with all the goings ons?
I agree with the tax assessment on the cottages but the ones on the islands will not benefit Columbia, as it is West Hempfield's jurisdiction.
So I am not sure how this happened that the park closes but the ramp stays open. I wonder when that started and is it official, or on the books that way. I understand the ramp should be open 24 hours for emergencies and for the Fish and Game to access the river, but other than that, how can this be enforced selectively??? Official business is the only access that should be granted AND THAT DOES NOT MEAN COUNCIL MEMBERS!!!!
I am in the dark here, are you saying the cottages along the river are not taxed?
it's my understanding (from boro manager norm at june council mtg) that cottage owners DO PAY TAXES AND have paid taxes for 30 up to 60 years !!! maybe all these foreigners and renters should pay up-they pay NOTHING and TAKE EVERYTHING
Wouldn't the island cottages be in Manor or WH Twp, and therefore any taxes wouldn't be paid to Columbia anyway?
Actually the river park was funded in part by the PA fish and boat commission and DCNR, both of which maintain that boaters be allowed to launch 24/7. The primary purpose of the park as it was initially intended was as a boat launch. More fisherman and hunters use the launch after dusk and before dawn than island cottage owners. As far as cottage taxes go all cottage residents along the shoreline do pay taxes to the borough (not sure about the island). Just to clarify, I do not own a cottage along the river or on the islands.
If we're going to segregate why stop there though. What about the outfitter who uses the landing for his business...should he be charged? heck, he wants to use the public park to move his business into and use it for a private profit making business for himself? Sound fair? If his business takes off his customers will have just about every spot in the lot filled anyway so it won't matter who else wants to use it.
Then Leo says at the meeting "I think it's a great idea and we should try and get him in there". Great idea for WHO? Definitely not the borough. Now, I'm not saying that businesses down there are bad...heck, they'd be great. But the borough would benefit MUCH better if this wasn't a "sneak our buddies in there deal". That's prime real estate down there and would bring a pretty penny in rental revenue if offered to the highest bidder. If they REALLY were looking out for the towns people this is obviously what they would do. Anything short of that is favoritism pure and simple.
Of course Mary had to make mention of the fact that the business owner "went out of his way for the town" trying to get funding from Colorado to have a building built in the park. Hold on...let me take my blinders off...no CRAP...his motive was to use the building for HIS business!
I also loved how when asked at the property meeting if it was required to be offered for public bid Mary was quick to say "NO"...unfortunately for her Norm said "yes" at the exact same time. Wow...I wonder if she wants to throw whoever she picks and chooses in down there...doesn't take a genius. Of course they both backed off and then said they'd have to check with the solicitor.
The cottages along the river do pay taxes, I don't think anybody implied that they do not. BUT they pay an UNDER ASSESSED value!!!! Remember the county wide reassessment? Were the cottages affected by this? My understanding is that they pay approximately $1000/year in taxes per cottage. This is a far cry from FAIR!!!!!!
Those cottages are PRIME REAl ESTATE, ask any realtor. Most of them are worth more than the average value of the homes in Columbia, just because of LOCATION!
i agree with tax assessment on ALL the renters in this boro-we would ALL be rich !!!! i heard mary leo and norm would willingly pay the elctric bills after all, isn't it called normleomary park
in any event, there should be a $5.00 charge to put a boat in, and $2.00 per kayak or canoe
cottage owners should get a discount because they don't own the land -
and lights should be solar powered with a green money grant from the County that the Norleohisers can surly get!!
What they should have done was added some of the lights installed at the river park down along the road that runs through the cottages. After all they pay taxes as well. I'm thinking about putting a peanut stand at the bottom of Walnut street. If business picks up I may add another because if you listen to Mayor Leo Lutz and President of Council Mary Wickenheiser there is going to be almost 300,000 people visiting Columbia. That's alot of nuts to sell. People ahould really stop making fun of our leaders. They work so hard to make Columbia a better place to live. I just moved back into Columbia a few years ago and I like the different folks and the choice to live in any of the apartments. I may even sell hanging baskets but not in the winter because flowers really don't grow when its cold outside. I would hope that we all can at some public rally stand in support of our leaders and stand behind them 100%. My kids even wanted me to allow them to have a lemonade stand at the bottom of walnut street and I said not until they are 18 years old. I also said that selling lemonade in the winter might be a little difficult because it is very cold and I don't think visitors drink that many cold drinks in the winter. I'm going to write President Obama a letter to tell him how our town is being turned around and he should visit. Thank you Mr. Barry for allowing us to express our views.
All this talk about under assessed value for the cottages and taxes is cracking me up. Look, The majority of the cottage owners do one of three things. One, they use their OWN land to launch their boats. Two, they put their boats in at the beginning of the season and LEAVE them in, or three...use the PUBLIC BOAT LAUNCH at the bottom of union street. So if you want to compare apples to apples the cottages on shore use the park less than most citizens who don't own one. besides, the majority of cottage owners use them as seasonal dwellings so they're already paying taxes on a primary residence. Also, the majority of the taxes you pay go to schooling...If they already live in the borough then they are already paying taxes for schooling on both a primary residence AND the cottage so I'm sure their doing their fair share.
I don't hear anyone complaining about local business owners who pay thousands in taxes each year to the borough but because they live just outside the town their kids can't attend Columbia. That's right...Columbia will take 10 grand a year from a business towards schooling...just don't expect that business owner to be able to send their kids to a Columbia school.
so, what percentage of the cottage owners do live in the Borough? - and so what if it's not their primary residence -
do you think that only primary residences should be taxed ? -because over 1/2 of the properties in Columbia are something other then a primary residence!! -
as a matter of fact, Cottage Owners should be taxed extra because they are tying up the shoreline which has extra value!!
you simple minded peon-you should be taxed EXTRA just BECAUSE YOU'RE STUPID !!!!!!!!!!!
DID YOU TAKE CARE OF ANY OF THIS PROPERTY FOR 50 YEARS ? NOOOOOOOO i didn't think so. i think i'll TAKE YOUR PROPERTY JUST BECAUSE i feel like it. how about that?
go crawl back into the woodwork you crawled out of. i don't own property at the river-but it's the same as if i try to take yours. you clown
I THINK THAT RENTERS IN ALL THE BORO PROPERTIES MUST AND SHOULD PAY TAXES - THERE ARE MORE RENTERS THAN HOMEOWNERS - tax them $ 300 @ spring and $ 500 @ fall. or whatever ! my back is breaking too. we can not go on like this, we, the homeowners and the taxpayers carry this whole boro
so what? - you want the cottage owners to be assessed at little to no tax rate for 20 years and now let me guess, if there is a public project and the land needs to be taken for a better use the cottage owners should dig in and get paid big dollars on buildings that they never paid much tax on ?? - go figure.
Tax the renters. That's a laugh. You can't get them to pay the $15.00 school per-capita tax let alone $300 or $500. The majority of renters in our town lack pride and care nothing about our town. There are a few good renters, I know a few, heck, when my wife and I got married we rented until we saved up for a down payment on a house but we took pride in the property we rented. Can't say that about many of the renters today.
THATS why we need to rid this town of all these deadbeat renters !!
what can't you understand? the cottage owners DO and HAVE PAID TAXES for up to 60 YEARS !!!!!!! it is NOT a primary residence but you ignorant a--, these owners PAY TAXES ON 2 PROPERTIES IN THIS BORO !!!!! more than i can say for a lot of deadbeats in this town. have you spent THOUSANDS OF DOLLARS on these properties individually for upkeep over the years ? NO NO NO . Pay your taxes.
These people have done NOTHING TO YOU and they paid for and took care of their properties for 30 to 60 years. where were all you clowns then?????? i think we should ALL think about this-maybe the Boro will decide it wants your property for a BIG PARKING LOT FOR ALL THE BUSINESSES DOWNTOWN ! They won't care if you paid $50,000 or $ 150,000 for it or if you put another $ 10,000 or $ 20,000 into it. It doesn't matter. DON'T YOU GET THAT ??? What right do you or anybody have?
Response to: July 21, 2010 9:54 AM
Just wanted to make a correction. The first one of the 3 things you said the majority of cottage owners do is "use their OWN land to launch their boats". Well you ding-a-ling, the cottage owners don't OWN the LAND, THEY RENT!!!!!!!
You are no different than the renters that live on my block, except you pay ALOT less rent than they do! AND you're tying up riverfront property that the taxpayers could be enjoying:)
DON'T YOU EVER SAY I'M THE SAME AS THE RENTERS - YOU DO NOT KNOW ME AND I RESENT THAT. I TAKE CARE OF MY PROPERTY. AND, IN MY OPINION OF THE COTTAGE PEOPLE - THEY HAVE DONE NOTHING TO YOU. THEY HAVE TAKEN CARE OF PROPERTY FOR YEARS AND SPENT A HELL OF A LOT OF MONEY DOING IT. THEY WAITED FOR YEARS WITH THEIR NAME ON A LIST TO RENT A PROPERTY. IT'S NOT THEIR FAULT THAT YOU DID NOT. YOU HAVE NO RIGHT TO ENJOY ANY OF IT.
WHAT OR WHO DO YOU THINK GIVES YOU THE RIGHT TO ENJOY ANYTHING THAT YOU HAD NOTHING TO DO WITH YOU ARE UNBELIEVABLE. LET ME GUESS. YOU'RE ONE OF THOSE PEOPLE WHO THINKS THE WORLD OWES THEM. GUESS AGAIN.
don't cottage owners know what the word "RENT" means? - it's something other then "OWN" and doesn't carry with it the same rights, sad but true.
don't you know what "STUPID" means? the real word is LEASE !!!!! stick that in your uh, er ear. if you don;t have a clue, which you evidently don't , then you should not make incorrect statements....
Actually the word is LEASE which last time I checked is a binding agreement set on terms based on quantity of YEARS not month to month like a renter. So the next time you decide to "educate" someone on the difference between rent and own maybe you should open a dictionary. L comes between K and M by the way to help you out. Also, lease agreements allow the Leasee to use the land for their general purposes which include launching of boats.
As far as land for the good of the public...give me a break. Those cottages have been bought and sold forever. Everyone in Columbia had a chance to purchase one. Now that you decided to blow money elsewhere rather than purchase real estate you want something handed to you at someone elses expense.
Gotta love people always looking for a handout riding the coat tails of people who work hard and invest wisely.
Finally, the cottage owners are looking for NOTHING of monetary gain...PERIOD. They simply want a lease that will allow them to keep what was rightfully paid for with THEIR money. Why is it that people imply that cottage owners want to turn a profit...what a joke! They're perfectly happy keeping the lease and moving forward as if nothing changed. Heck, if Columbia would just say we'll take the land, give the cottage owners a 50 year lease it would be settled. The cottage owners get their return on their investment and hard work. Columbia gets the land and keeps collecting taxes and after 50 years they can go from there.
If we're talking taking land from people then lets make a list. Lets start with the vacant trash heap of a lot at the bottom of Union accross from the cottages. That is a huge lot and could be used for a great deal of things to benefit the public.
Bet THAT would never happen and everyone knows why. heck, the owner is lucky if he has to even cut the grass once every 6 months.
What about any house in Columbia. Heck, any lot would be a great place to take from someone and put in a flower bed and a few chess boards. I really LOOOOVE playing chess. I think we should start taking people property (By the way...the cottage OWNERS actually DO OWN all building located on the land).
Bottom line is that's stupid! Like I said I do not own a cottage anywhere but I just get really ticked when someone talks about taking something someone else worked for away because they would like to have it for themselves.
If it was something urgent and NEEDED like a Hospital or highway then that's a different story. But to take someones place because Mary and her buddies want to put their friends' shops in there is low.
I agree - the Borough should take ownershp of the land and raise the "lease" price to be comparable to the value of an individual lot, for example, most lots are worth 50,000., but cut them a break and figure a little lot where the house sits would be worth $25,000. which would convert to a lease rate of $250. per month per house - the Cottage owners have a low "lease" rate (with no extra taxes) and the Borough has nice extra income of $250. per month per unit - and maybe a ten year lease, but not 50!
ok so, say the lease price would be $250 per month-do you how much it would cost the boro to cut all that grass and weed all the weeds??? they were better off before- IF SOMETHING AIN'T BROKE - DON'T FIX IT !!!!!! especially the boro, it's amazing you people are SOOOO slow - this boro can NOT take care OF ANYTHING its owns NOW. look at ALL boro owned properties-high grass, weeds trash, rubbish, dog shit, cigarette butts AND the BORO has the NERVE to send out letters to ANY ONE in this boro for having grass,weeds,trash,etc-TAKE CARE OF YOUR OWN BORO
Grass?? Weeds?? Huh? The leasee takes care of that. Like many posters on here are trying to explain. These aren't renters!! The borough would be responsible for none of it !! The only reason those properties down there are maintained is because of the people owning them. And yes, I said own because like was mentioned earlier...they do OWN the buildings. The adjusted leasing sounds like a win win for everyone. Right now Columbia has so many "broken" things to fix that the extra money would be extremely helpful. The problem is that council has all these visions without opening their eyes to what needs corrected first. How about we clean the town up first...THEN finance expansion. The river park is great...hopefully everyone's vehicles stay in one piece until they get there.
It's sort of like spending 5 grand to paint a car that doesn't run. Yeah...it looks good from the outside but as soon as you look closer you see there's a ton of underlying issues just being ignored.
Just like a previous blogger posted in reference to the cottage owners: "THEY HAVE TAKEN CARE OF PROPERTY FOR YEARS AND SPENT A HELL OF A LOT OF MONEY DOING IT. THEY WAITED FOR YEARS WITH THEIR NAME ON A LIST TO RENT A PROPERTY. IT'S NOT THEIR FAULT THAT YOU DID NOT. YOU HAVE NO RIGHT TO ENJOY ANY OF IT.
WHAT OR WHO DO YOU THINK GIVES YOU THE RIGHT TO ENJOY ANYTHING THAT YOU HAD NOTHING TO DO WITH YOU ARE UNBELIEVABLE. LET ME GUESS. YOU'RE ONE OF THOSE PEOPLE WHO THINKS THE WORLD OWES THEM. GUESS AGAIN Please think of this as having your feet in their shoes. How would you like someone just coming and taking away something that has been in the family for 50 plus years, that you love and cherish and you take care of it and maintain it and keep it beautiful. Yes, it is a BEAUTIFUL AREA ALREADY, BECAUSE OF THE PEOPLE THAT OWN (own meaning paid for the cottage and/or buildings and pay taxes on buildings) the cottages and lease and maintain (pay lease for the land and take care of (meaning work!)) and take care of them beautifully! Not much trash laying along the stone/dirt road there. Maybe I'll just get an apartment in Columbia where I can trot through the tall grass and watch the weeds grow sky high, throw my trash out on the street and pay no taxes. Or better yet - get the hell out of Columbia while I can. Soon won't be able to afford the scum town that needs so much work, time, money and most of all effort before taking a beautiful place from the good people of Columbia that take pride in what they have and are willing to pay for it!
And to the blogger that posted to the cottage owners "AND you're tying up riverfront property that the taxpayers could be enjoying:)" Oh? There's no other riverfront property that's just sitting empty that could be enjoyed by the taxpayers? There are 14 acres above the river park that they will be adding phase 2, 3, and 4. Much bigger projects than phase 1 - the piddly public boat lauch and park -is it finished yet? Usable yes, but still work to be done - that in about 2 months will be 1 year anniversary of the start date. Was it around Sept. 23rd 2009 when then launch/park was closed? Please correct me if I'm wrong. They may have extended it too. Anyway, if the 14 acres above river park aren't enough, there is plenty of tree weeded area along the river past the cottages heading towards Washington Boro. Hikers and bikers will have no problem bypassing the short hike on the trail on the other side of the railroad tracks. And for the non hikers/bikers, we are living in 2010 right? People have cars and there can be some parking spots. And by the way, where do you live? If it's beautiful maybe I will take it and put a really cool and awesome business there that will bring alot of money into Columbia! Even if it's not beautiful I want it! I can still turn it into something cool and awesome!
Sorry, it's just not right to take away something small and beautiful that people have put money into and taken care of for years and years, especially when the majority of the rest of the town really needs help more than ever! People are going broke just getting repairs on their vehicles from the horrible roads in Columbia! A lot of money needs to spent elsewhere way way way before taking over the cottages!
amen. couldn't have said it better myself !!!
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