CURWENSVILLE – Curwensville Borough will take a more active role in collecting the amusement tax.
At Monday’s meeting, the Curwensville Borough Council approved changes to the amusement device tax ordinance, which increases the fees to $50 for the first machine and $25 for every additional machine.
The council had discussed the amusement tax at previous meetings and noted that collection of the tax has been lax.
President Sara Curulla said Code Enforcement Officer Tom Carfley would be responsible for ensuring the tax is paid by the establishments, which have the machines.
According to the amended ordinance, “amusement devices” are defined as any juke box, vending machine, pool table, service machine or mechanical amusement device that requires the insertion of a coin, slug, token, plate, disc or key “for profit.” This includes games of chance, gambling devices and games of skill.
The tax is imposed upon any establishment using these devices for profit within the confines of Curwensville Borough and shall be payable by the person owning and or operating the establishment in which the device is located. Non-profits, churches, fraternal organizations and civic organizations are exempt.
The tax must be paid to the borough on or before Feb. 15 and the borough will issue a seal to be placed on each device each year.
The establishments must notify the borough of any changes in the number or type of machines in operation within five days.
Penalties for failure to pay the tax will be 10 percent of tax due, added to the total of the unpaid taxes.
Also, at the meeting, Mayor John Adams reported that the police department was still seeing an increase in drug-related activity within the borough.
Adams spoke of an incident where packets of methamphetamine were found in the parking lots of businesses. He said the police officers are working on rotating schedules to try to provide better coverage.
In other business, the council voted to approve:
- the sign resolution for the Anderson Bradley Street Project.
- renewing the borough’s participation in the illegal dumping program.
- paying the bills for February in the amount of $19,553.69.