Politics & Government
Council Discusses Ward Redistricting
Borough Council will continue to discuss ward redistricting on Wednesday.
The began discussions Tuesday night to redraw the ward lines to conform with the 2010 census data.
“Some stuff shifted around in 2010,” said council member Sue Bayne. “We needed to figure out how to rearrange the wards and still keep everything balanced.”
Besides keeping the populations relatively balanced the wards also have to keep the same borough political representation, party committee representation and polling place.
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“It was advisable to do what we did with the least amount of damage,” Bayne said. “We have a presidential election coming up, so keeping the polling places the same was very important.
After the plan is approved by borough council it will move to court for approval. According to Bayne, that could take at least a month.
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“We’re looking at approval by the end of January at a minimum,” Bayne said.
Please see the attached map of the new wards.
Tomorrow night
Besides the ward redistricting, the borough will also vote on the budget for 2012, and the 2012 tax rate. The tax rate for 2012 is expected to remain flat. Council will also discuss and vote on parking in the area of the 400 block of West Miner Street. The county has 250 people who work in its buildings without designated parking spots. Those extra people park on West Miner Street and the neighboring avenues clogging up parking for residents of those streets. The residents are asking council to make parking on those streets permit only.
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