Clearfield Co.- Another citizen attended the meeting of the Clearfield County Commissioners Tuesday to express some concerns about the recently passed budget.
Jerry Aughenbaugh said that the commissioners, specifically Tim Winters and David Glass, speak in generalities and suggested that if they spoke in more specific terms regarding the budget numbers it would be easier for people to help with solutions.
He also stated that he saw on the news where Glass stated that the increase would only be about $8, which Glass denied saying. Aughenbaugh stated he saw it on the news and then said that it was changed to $80 and that it might not be a problem for some people but for most the raise would be a problem.
He also said that the issue with the assessed values is a problem, stating that the commissioners needed to be upfront with why they made the change, which he said is to allow them to increase tax millage in the future. He also said that he looked into the appeals process and that it was “a joke” because anyone appealing could not refer to anything other than assessed values of property.
Finally, Aughenbaugh said that he had tried to view the budget online after it was passed, but he couldn’t find it on the county website for 10-12 days and felt that it should have been there immediately.
Glass replied that they believed it to have been online the next day, but regardless a hard copy is always available for the public to review at the commissioners’ office.
Winters stated that they have repeatedly said that the public is welcome to come into the office and sit down with them or the controller and review the budget, but no one has taken them up on that offer.
The budget can be viewed online at https://clearfieldcountypa.gov/162/Commissioners
The commissioners also heard from Rob Dickenson from the Clearfield County Penn State Extension office who gave an update on the current status of avian flu.
Dickenson said that across the country 151 flocks have been affected with 23 million birds. In Pennsylvania 11 farms have been affected with 2 million birds euthanized.
He said that while we don’t have many chicken farms, there is still a concern with migrating birds and their affect on dairy farms and that the Extension is helping farms with bio-security and they can contact the Extension for information.
