Restaurant Inspections - Columbia Borough - February 21, 2025

Knights of Columbus Home Association, 400 Maple St., Columbia, Feb. 13. Pass. No violations.

Mr. Joe's Steakhouse, 348 Perry St., Columbia, Feb. 11. Pass. Observed raw shell eggs stored above milk in the reach-in cooler. Employee personal items, echinacea and a type of drops, observed stored in the reach-in cooler above food rather than stored on the bottom and segregated.

Parma Pizza & Grill, 256 Market St., Elizabethtown, opening, Feb. 11. Pass. Raw ground beef was stored above ready-to-eat products in the bain-marie; corrected. Observed a moderate amount of static dust on circulating fan at three-compartment sink. Women's toilet room is not provided with a covered waste receptacle for sanitary napkins. Lights are not shielded or shatterproof over the grill area. A working container of caustic oven cleaner was stored above or on the same shelf with food equipment in the main production area.

Chef Lex, 404 Cherry St., Columbia, opening, Feb. 10. Pass. No violations.

Columbia School Board Votes to CUT Property Tax Rate

 

Columbia taxpayers are about to get a break on their taxes. The Columbia Borough School District Board of Directors voted Thursday night to decrease the district's property tax rate by .4 mills. The measure passed unanimously among the seven directors present. The decrease will reduce the current millage from 26.46 to 26.06 mills.

Borough property owners will save approximately $40 per $100,000 of assessed property value.

The tax reduction was made possible by a $179,600 block grant from the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania's Ready to Learn Block Grant Tax Equity Supplement. The funds cannot be used until the 2025-26 fiscal year.

(The 2024-25 fiscal year marked the fifth year in a row without a district tax increase.)

The board had discussed five available options for using the grant before choosing Option 1:

1) Mitigating or preventing an increase in the millage rate of real estate property taxes levied by the school district

2) Supplementing the amount calculated by the school district for the homestead and farmstead exclusion under

3) Establishing, maintaining or expanding a program provided by the school district that supplements senior tax rebates

4) Mitigating or replacing the loss of revenue received by the school district resulting from a decision of a court of this commonwealth from previous five years relating to an assessment appeal

5) Reducing debt.

Agenda - Columbia Borough School Board Meeting - February 20, 2025

 

Agendas - Columbia Borough Planning Commission - February 18, 2025

 

Workshop

Regular Meeting 

Deeds Recorded - Columbia Borough - February 17, 2025

Collier Brian, Collier Michelle J. conveyed 545 N. Second St. to Figurell Paul J, Figurell Amanda K. for $264,900.

Valley View Capital LLC conveyed 131 1/2 S. Fourth St. to Jessica Herr for $170,000.

Benjamin K. Lapp conveyed property on a public road to John S. King Enterprises LLC, King John S. Enterprises LLC for $730,000.

Alice M. Best conveyed 505 Locust St. to JBS Homes LLC for $175,000.

[LNP | LancasterOnline] Black business owners in Lancaster County reflect on obstacles, creating path for others [photos, video]

ENELLY BETANCOURT | La Voz Editor and Staff Writer

Lionel "Rocky" Cunningham, co-owner of Rocky's BBQ in Columbia, said he absolutely loves what he does.

"I love grilling. People kept asking me to do it. I got to work with major players in the game and developed my own style, leaning to southern Texas barbecue," Cunningham said. 

Because the cost of real estate was high, Cunningham first established his business as a food truck, which he owned and operated for eight years, but in 2019 moved his business to 28 N. Third St.

His passion for grilling turned to an obsession for smoking meats. He enrolled in BBQ cooking school, competed with an award-winning grill team and later developed his own signature flavor that is now Rocky's BBQ.

MORE:

https://lancasteronline.com/news/local/black-business-owners-in-lancaster-county-reflect-on-obstacles-creating-path-for-others-photos-video/article_76d33866-e98c-11ef-af96-632a23f15dd2.html?utm_medium=social&utm_source=email&utm_campaign=user-share 

About Town - February 16, 2025

 This week's photos of Columbia 

Train on the right track

This is at Rail Mechanical, 380 South 4th Street. 

Fine figure of a dog at Columbia River Park

PennDOT truck getting washed

Valentine's Day tree on Locust

A new nicotine delivery system

Fortunately, this ornate fence has contained the trash.

Even here?

Pole replacement near the innovation park-to-be

Stater at Bixler's

Sign down at 4th & Chestnut 

Moonlit clouds

Parked on the ramp

Here's another one. 

Is this a thing now?

Vortex Comics offered discounts on Saturday. 

They're celebrating their one-year anniversary. 

Miller Pipeline and UGI were seemingly everywhere on our streets on Friday.

There must've been a heckuva plumbing/sewage problem on the first block of North 4th the other day.

Brokenhearted at Columbia Curiosities 

Cupid shot an arrow into this one's posterior.

Brine lines

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