(8/27) On July 1, Carroll Valley Borough received a check for $975,000 from the Office of the Budget for the reimbursement of the new borough building.

The new building, which was completed at the beginning of 2017, cost approximately $3.6 million. The Borough incurred savings through several avenues, including a $1 million Redevelopment Assistance Capital Program (RACP), which was received in October of 2016. This money covered the $70,000 annual appropriation from the general fund that had been budgeted for the building project.

Now, the Borough will await contact from a representative of the Office of the Budget in order to schedule a closeout audit. This may take a few months to schedule. The remaining $25,000 held as retainage will automatically be released once the closeout audit report is approved.

In other Borough news, Council members voted to approve the purchase of a new backhoe. The old backhoe, purchased in 2006, has mechanical issues, noted Borough Manager Dave Hazlett. The backhoe could be fixed, however the Borough would have to take the piece of equipment back to the dealer in order to have work done and an exploratory estimate noted a cost in excess of $20,000 to repair it. "Even if it was repaired," explained Hazlett, "the trade-in value would not be improved."

The Borough received four bids. Staff recommended the purchase of a JCB 3CX-15 Backhoe with the Wainroy Swing Coupler. Their bid came in at $101,160, with a trade-in value of $32,500, bringing the Borough’s cost to $68,660. Of the bids, this was the lowest, but also offered the best warranty: two year/2,000 hour full machine warranty and a five year/5,000 hour power train warranty.

Although the Borough did not specifically budget for the purchase of this piece of equipment this year, Hazlett explained that the Borough had intended on purchasing a new street sweeper this year, which would have cost significantly more to purchase. The backhoe was slated for purchase two years from now. The street sweeper will be bumped to another year in order to accommodate this higher priority piece of equipment.