West Penn Township may raise its local service tax in an effort to generate more income.

Supervisor Tony Prudenti broached the idea at Monday's board of supervisors meeting.Prudenti said that when the township initially adopted its LST in 2007, it did so at $10, the lowest possible rate.As a result, he said the township has never reaped the benefits of the tax, and suggested that the board look to raise the rate to $52.Doing so, Prudenti said, would generate an additional $22,000 to the township, which it would then divvy up among the township's fire company, ambulance, police department and road crew.Of that, Prudenti said $10,000 would go to the fire department, $5,000 to the ambulance, $2,000 to the police department, and $5,000 to the road crew.Resident Curtis Bailey asked the board if it ever thought how such a move might affect the solicitations received by the fire department and ambulance.Prudenti asked West Penn Volunteer Fire Company Fire Chief Dennis Fritzinger Jr, who was on hand, how such a move would affect the fire company.Fritzinger said it would be welcome, as it would provide the fire company with a known amount of money it could count on to receive.But resident Mike Oswald questioned why the police department and road crew should receive the money."The road crew and police are already on your payroll," Oswald said. "We're already paying taxes to get them what they need."Supervisors unanimously agreed to advertise the matter so that it could take action at its Nov. 7 meeting.