COLUMBIA SPY

**AVOID THE AREA OF N THIRD STREET AND LINDEN STREET** Police are on the scene with a very deep sinkhole forming on the southeast corner of N Third Street and Linden Street in Columbia Borough. Please avoid the area and intersection. Police are redirecting traffic to Second Street of Fourth Street. Source:  Columbia Borough Police Department

At Thursday's meeting, Columbia Borough Council voted to approve the 2019 budget and to raise taxes. Just in time for Christmas, Columbia Borough Council presented taxpayers with a gift that will keep on taking: a tax hike. At Thursday's special council meeting, council voted unanimously to pass the 2019 budget and to increase millage from 6.6 to 8 mills - an increase of 21.2%. Before the vote, several citizens spoke out against the increase, but council remained unmoved and presented a united front during the proceedings. Meiskey: "I don't know why council is so hell-bent on eroding the standard of living in Columbia Borough with this unjust, immoral, and in my opinion, illegal use of an ordinance and throwing over two mills of tax in the way of $800,000 to be loaned out to certain individuals."  Former Borough Manager Norm Meiskey, a borough resident, spoke out against the increase, as he has done several times at recent meetings. He once again cit...

Join your fellow Democrats as we plan for 2019 and beyond. Learn about positions up for election in your community, meet some active leaders, and get plugged in as we move Columbia forward. Meeting: 500 Chestnut Street, Sunday, December 16, at 2 p.m. Have questions or can't make it but want to get involved? Email:  ColumbiaDemCommittee@gmail.com Click  HERE  for more information.

At a special meeting Thursday night, Columbia Borough Council voted unanimously to pass the 2019 budget and raise the municipal tax rate from 6.6 Mills to 8.0 Mills. MORE TO FOLLOW

Here's an item of interest: 16 years ago this month, a former councilman was ejected from a Columbia Borough Council Meeting for exceeding the time limit while protesting a proposed tax increase. Several residents expressed anger about the way the councilman was treated. The article shown above was published in the Intelligencer Journal on December 10, 2002.

Preliminary Agenda - Columbia Borough Council Meeting, December 13, 2018 Columbia Borough Council will hold a public meeting Thursday, December 13, 2018, at 6 p.m. to consider approving the 2019 borough budget and a proposed tax hike from 6.6 mills to 8 mills. A legal notice posted on the borough website announcing the meeting is shown below: LEGAL NOTICE Notice is hereby given that the Borough Council of the Borough of Columbia, at a meeting to be held on December 13, 2018, at 6:00pm in Council Chambers of the Borough Municipal Building located at 308 Locust Street, Columbia, will consider for adoption Resolution No. 18- 23 adopting the budget for the Borough of Columbia for the year 2019 and will consider for adoption Ordinance No. 907 fixing the real estate tax millage rate for 2019 at 8 mills, which is $.80 of tax for each $100 of assessed real estate valuation. This action will result in an increase from the 2018 real estate tax rate. Any person with a disability wishi...

A project to prevent water from leaking onto the road surface from an underground spring is currently underway on Grinnell Avenue. Water from the spring, which is seeping into residents' basements, is being pumped out via sump pumps and eventually draining onto the roadway. Initial excavation for the project began on Tuesday as a first step toward installing an 8-inch drain pipe and a new catch basin. The plan is to direct the water into the pipe which is being run under a beauty strip along the sidewalk between 10th and 11th Streets. The pipe will connect to a catch basin being installed at 10th Street and Grinnell Avenue to direct the water down 10th Street to an existing catch basin on Barber Street. According to Zoning and Planning Officer Jeff Helm, the project will take about two weeks.  Columbia Spy previously reported on this story  HERE  and  HERE .