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Residents press board over cancelled fireworks and unpaid stormwater fees
Summary
During public comment, residents criticized the cancelation of community fireworks and raised a stormwater-fee dispute involving HPAL, claiming the township failed to place a lien and that an initial bill of over $12,000 was reduced to about $4,000.
Several residents used the public-comment period at the June 9 Lower Paxton workshop to press supervisors about two distinct local issues: the absence of fireworks for the nation’s 250th celebration and a disputed stormwater-fee debt tied to a property purchased by HPAL.
Alan McCormack asked whether fireworks would be held for the community’s America 250 celebration and said he was "mortified" the township has no fireworks scheduled; board members replied there was no fireworks planned this year and referenced prior resident surveys that showed insufficient support. "The fact that we don't have a fireworks is an abomination," McCormack said.
A separate public commenter, J. Perie, described failures in the township’s stormwater-fee collection process and said staff did not place a lien on a property later acquired by HPAL. Perie said the outstanding bill was "over $12,000" before staff used legal tools and adjustments to reduce the outstanding amount to roughly $4,000. Perie told the board that because no lien had been filed, HPAL could not have known about the liability at purchase and urged the municipal authority and board to consider forgiving or otherwise resolving the debt where township administrative processes fell short.
Board members acknowledged past surveys and internal discussions about fireworks and debated the public-safety and community considerations that informed previous choices. Supervisors also said collection processes for stormwater fees needed clearer policy and suggested putting a lien-consistency policy on a future workshop agenda to reduce future ambiguity for property owners and buyers.
No formal action on fireworks or the HPAL stormwater claim was taken at the meeting; both topics were raised during public comment and discussed informally by supervisors and staff.
