Keyser Soze

Not having a police force would save a ton of money. Hempfield Township: Located in Westmoreland County, this is the largest township in the state with a population of 43,000 that does not have its own police force and is served by the Pennsylvania State Police. Hempfield recently voted to raise taxes for the first time in thirty years.This increase will double the current millage rate from 3 mills to 6 mills for 2026, with the additional revenue intended to fund the fire department. The original 3 mills will then be reallocated to roads and general operations. A final vote on the budget is scheduled for December, and a rebate program is expected to offset the increase for eligible seniors. This is expected to double the tax bill for most homeowners. a home with a median property value of $335,500 would see an additional $167.75 in annual taxes.

DuBois-Sandy Township Co-Manager Ben Kafferlin said the impact on overall tax bills will be smaller once county and school taxes are included — about 4 percent more for city residents and 8 percent more for township residents. If your total tax bill was $1,300 then next year total will be $1,404. A $104 increase. My total was $2,226 with a total increase to $2,404 Also many will see saving in their federal taxes from Trump's Big Beautiful Tax bill https://taxfoundation.org/data/all/federal/tax-calculator-obbba/

Your tax rate would be cut in half or more for at least the next 30 years. The DuBois water users would pay AQUA for their water. The money returned from the sale of the system would go to all taxpayers.

Starting 1/5/2026 is the no blame on the past day! Would you be in favor of selling the water system for 200 million? This would result in a large tax decrease plus no tax increases for the next 30 years. People in Treasure Lake and outlying areas with no city water/sewage would be in favor I bet.

https://gantnews.com/2025/11/12/tax-rate-discussed-at-joint-board-meeting/

You do realize Herm caused this mess!!!! Using water money to balance the budget. Increasing the pension to 90% payout for non uniform employees. Money paid by council for his defense. Illegally granted healthcare for council members that cost easily a million dollars in premiums and paid deductibles.

You can give the city a new name but the post office will still use the DuBois name.

This is common way in Pennsylvania for townships and cities to pay for lighting and hydrants while giving outlying property owners who don’t benefit from these services a lower tax rate. Let’s say you live where you will never get a hydrant or streetlights then your taxes would be less.

At some point around 2012 the city council became more interested in awarding themselves pensions, cadillac healthcare benefits with no deductibles and perks.They were alright having cash sitting around the city building with no way of keeping track of it.The city had a cash cow with their ability to raise Sandy's sewer rates to cover any deficit that might occur. The supervisors at that time (and before) maintained a attitude of not enriching themselves. Whenever someone new joined the board the policy of just doing what is best for the township carried over to the new board.

If Dush’s bill would have been law before the consolidation vote, then it could had been paused once there was a valid reason to ask for one.

If there would of been no consolidation the tax & sewage rates would have gone up in Sandy Township anyway. Who do you think asked the County Commissioners to change the pre-determined ratio to 50%?

Most of the council thought that. The consolidation law only has provisions to consolidate. Sen Dush wants to add a provision (Bill 764) to allow a pause if wrong doing is suspected in future consolidations. He received some suggestions from local officials to reword a few sentences in his proposal. It was still in committee as of today.

There’s currently no way for municipalities to disincorporate. But Pa. law allows a municipality to terminate itself in its current form by merging or consolidating with another municipality or municipalities. So the only way to change DuBois is to consolidate with a neighboring municipality. You cannot have a ballot question to change back to the previous Sandy/DuBois governments.

Here are the tax saving estimates that were done from the consolidation study in 2020. The tax savings were never that much. Plus since that time, inflation would have done away with the estimated savings.