In addition to adopting its preliminary 2015 budget last week, Walnutport Borough Council also rescinded its resolution to contribute $2 per capita, or just over $4,000, toward the future Northern Lehigh Recreation Authority.

About $2,000, $1 per capita, may now make the difference between whether or not the borough will join forces with Slatington and Washington Township to form the intermunicipal recreation group, which aims to benefit all three municipalities.The per capita amount of the resolution each municipality was to consider adopting was supposed to have been $3 from the start, the amount both other municipalities have been considering at their own borough and supervisory meetings.A new resolution by Walnutport to contribute $3 per capita toward the joint municipal effort would add up to about $6,200.Vice President and finance committee member Michael Gaston said, "Over the years, we used to give $2,000 to the playground, $2,000 to the canal association. We had to cut them out of the budget a few years ago. We cut our own two rec (things) here ... I wouldn't mind if we were (still) giving them the money, like we did in the past, but we cut them out ... and we're pushing across (the river) now."He said he has nothing against the community center, which is currently located in Slatington.Council members kept mentioning the community center. As specifically discussed at the joint municipality meetings, formulating a shared recreational facility would be only one of the benefits derived from the authority.Susan Landes, who guides the joint meetings, has pointed out that each municipality would also stand to gain money, and other support, for its own, individual recreational needs, as well."You want to qualify for (the big funding)," Landes has said, noting that the Department of Conservation and Natural Resources, which provides the funding, "looks favorably on groups that work together," making its first grant of $300,000 "almost guaranteed."As of the joint municipal meeting on Oct. 21, both Slatington and Washington Township seemed to still be on board to start the recreation authority.Meanwhile, Walnutport Borough Council said it may present the question as a referendum on the upcoming May ballot but that, if voters say yes, a 1/2-mill "recreational increase" will likely be levied on them, according to President Matthew Newhard.Council said it is slated to discuss the matter further at its upcoming Dec. 4 and Dec. 11 meetings, with Newhard saying, "They'll probably be here en masse at the (advertised) December meeting."In addition, after approving a preliminary 2015 budget that may include a 1/2-mill increase, council will also be voting on its final budget in December.Newhard said the two largest projects in 2015 will be a new, larger salt storage shed and work on Lock 24.Per the budget, council approved a 50-cent-per-hour raise for the borough's part-time police officers, noting that Police Chief Pete Wayda has saved the borough money because he had "dropped almost $6,000 in overtime."The preliminary budget also included a 50-cent-per-hour raise for public works and the borough secretary, with Gaston noting that they have not gotten raises "for several years."Council noted that increased health care costs for employees and proposed engineering fees played a factor in this year's preliminary budget.In other news, a 40-year resident of View Drive, a privately owned road that connects with Route 145 just north of Becker Mobile Homes, told council it is nearly impossible for him, and the approximately 25 other households there, to drive up and down the road when it snows, even slightly.Chris Makovsky said that, in addition to the road's steep incline making it hazardous during the winter, much of it is unpaved, covered with huge potholes and in general disrepair, and without winter maintenance from either the borough or the owner of the road, which actually constitutes its own lot.He said his main concern is that the borough's emergency vehicles will not be able to reach residents and asked if the borough would "take over the road."Though council said it will have to discuss the issue further, it did vote to provide the residents there with communal salt and cinders they can then spread on their own.