Nov 22, 2012 3 min read

Canonsburg Borough Council voted to hire its first full-time firefighter Tuesday night.

The vote did not come easy as council tied 3-3 on adding the $25,000 salary and $12,000 in benefits to the 2013 budget of $4.3 million that calls for a 1-mill tax increase to be used for parks and recreation. That would mean the average property owner would pay $12 more per year.

Mayor David Rhome cast the deciding vote, saying he was voting for the safety of the community.

Rhome, himself the assistant fire chief, said the department has 22 volunteers, down from 35 volunteers, and many of them now work out of town during the day.

“There’s a limited amount of people, and to wait 7 to 9 minutes to put a truck on the road is unacceptable. I will not compromise safety, and that’s why my vote is the way it is,” he said.

It was the first time Rhome had to cast a deciding vote in his three years as mayor.

Voting for the preliminary budget were Peter Lucas, John Bevec and Richard Russo. Voting against were Timothy Bilsky, Patricia Romano and Paul Sharkady.

Councilwoman Fran Coleman abstained. Joseph Graff and Joseph McGarry were absent from the meeting.

Canonsburg does have a full-time maintenance man who splits his time between the borough building and the fire department. If there is a fire alarm, he responds to it.

For the new firefighter, half of his or her salary will be paid for by the borough with the remainder $25,000 coming from a federal grant. Fire Chief Tom Lawrence could not be reached for comment. Three mills of real estate tax in the budget is dedicated to the fire department.

Next year’s budget includes income of $1.4 million in real estate taxes; $1.2 million in Act 511 taxes; $231,000 in business taxes; $38,000 in permits and licenses; $28,500 in fines and $102,000 in parking revenue; $245,300, state shared revenue; and $172,000 in recreation earnings.

On the expenditure side, the budget calls for $55,500 in engineering fees; $132,091, borough support; $127,336, public works buildings; $1.5 million, police; $151,495, fire; $61,228, planning and zoning; $687,047, public works – streets; $172,662, borough managers; and $421,998 in debt principal.

The complete budget is available for review at the borough office. It is expected to be adopted at council’s Dec. 10 meeting.

Interviews to fill the position of public works director also took place Tuesday night. The number of candidates was pared down from 6 to 4. It is expected that a new director will be named at the next council meeting.