West Penn Township proposed no tax increase at its budget meeting following its regularly scheduled township meeting on Monday morning.

The township will advertise its proposed budget of $2,040,531 for 20 days, with hopes of adopting it at the Dec. 5 township meeting.

“Last year, we were able to reduce the budget by a quarter mill,” said board Chairman Tony Prudenti.

“We’re lucky enough to hold the line this year with no tax increase, with the continued support of all the department heads.”

Potential land donation

A potential donor wants to offer the township a piece of land.

According to the board, Justin Hayward would like to see a dog park on the property if supervisors accept it. The land is located off Mush Dahl Road and West Penn Pike.

“I am 100% for the dog park,” said Glenn Hummel, supervisor.

“We might bring people coming into the township using the dog park, but it’s no different from the playgrounds in the area. It’s a place where people can meet and have fun. … I never believed in it until I watched these (other) dog parks. It’s like taking your kids to the playground. People all come, they pick up after their dogs, the dogs are friendly and able to run around. Now, do I think the whole property has to be that? No,” Hummel added.

Prudenti and supervisors Tim Houser mentioned concerns and brought up other suggestions for the land use.

“People are going to stop, driving through, instead of our residents - but I could be wrong about that,” Prudenti said.

“It’s something we’re going to have to maintain, not for our residents, but for others. I’m a little concerned about it.

Houser is interested in the property but does not want to be locked into the use of it upon acceptance.

“I don’t mind assessing this property. He was kind of receptive of putting up a storage building up there, too. When we look at the budget for next year, we do have money set aside for a pole building,” Houser added.

“We have an awful lot of equipment sitting outside. Because of the proximity of that piece of ground to the township building, that’s not really an overly far distance away for storage of equipment. I’m not opposed to accepting the property, I’m just not convinced that we need a dog park at this point.”

Another concern is liability. What if dogs attack one another, or an individual at the park with a dog?

Hummel said signs are posted at most dog parks. Township solicitor Paul Datte said signs can be effective, but the township could get sued if there is an incident among animals. Datte suggested for the board to connect with the township’s insurance carrier.

“But I think it’s an insurable risk,” Datte said. “Everything the township does has risk involved.”

Other business

• The board accepted a resignation from police officer Christopher Fischi, effective Nov. 15.

• The board approved the hiring of part-time police officer Glenn Lininger at $21 per hour.