100th Annual BCATO Convention set for February 16 at Spring Mill Manor
The 100th annual convention of the BCATO will be held on Saturday, February 16, at 8:30 a.m. at the Spring Mill Manor on Jacksonville Road in Northampton Township.

The keynote speaker will be Pennsylvania Governor Mark Schweiker.

There will be two important topics dicussed at the convetion:

• Warrington Township Mananger Timothy Tieperman will discuss Mercantile and Business Privilege tax laws.
• Green Architecture.

The deadline is February 9. 
The two choices of Entree will be Chicken Marsala or Roasted Sliced New York Sirloin.

The attendance fee is $50 per person which is generally paid by the township in one lump sum.   See information below about making reservations. 

Make Reservations Today!
Because the meeting will be held at the beautiful Spring Mill Manor, a large turnout is expected at this year’s dinner-meeting so if you haven't made your reservation through your township manager or secretary, do so today.  And tell him or her if you want Chicken Marsala or Roasted Sliced New York Sirloin for your meal.

The managers and secretaries have been asked to return the reservations for their township along with a single check representing $50 for each person attending by February 1.

Who May Attend
Section 1401 (b) of the Second Class Township Code states that "the supervisors, auditors, tax collectors, managers, solicitors, engineers, treasurers and secretary to the Board of Supervisors shall attend the conventions whenever possible." (These positions constitute the membership of the association.)

Fees and Expenses
Section 1401 (c) of the Second Class Township Code states "each supervisor, auditor, tax collector, manager, solicitor, engineer, treasurer and secretary attending the convention shall receive a certificate, signed by the secretary of the county association, attesting to their presence at the convention.  The certificate entitles the official to collect from the township treasurer the sum of $50 for each days' attendance, expenses which are limited to the registration fee, mileage for use of a personal vehicle or reimbursement of actual transportation expenses going to and returning from the meeting plus all other expenses the board of supervisors agrees to pay."

It should be noted that instead of reimbursing the attendee for the registration fee, most townships submit a check totaling all of the township's fees.

BCATO Turns 100 Years Old
This year marks the 100th anniverary of the Bucks County Association of Township Official which was organized in 1908.

Over the past century, the BCATO has been an organization that worked to help local governments by providing assistance, training, and educational programs to help elected officials do their jobs better.

The BCATO also works with the state elected officials and the Pennslyvania State Association of Township Supervisors to enact legislation in Harrisburg that will benefit local governments.

The BCATO has also enjoyed the the fact that some of our members have went on to higher elected offices such as Gov. Schweiker, state representatives and senators.  We can also call a member, the late Dr. Richard Derstine, as president of PSATS.

Its because of members going to higher office, we are able to enjoy a good relationship with members of the legislature because they realize the issues that we face everyday.

As we continue into our next 100 years, the BCATO will continue to provide our members with up-to-date training seminars and continue lobbying efforts on issues concerning local goverments.

Over the last couple of years, we have been working hard to help improve the state of fire and ems services in the county by providing training and passing resolutions that were approved at PSATS and forwarded to the legislature for consideration.

We are pleased to provide members with various oulet to provide information to our members with the Township Update, Municipal Directory, and website.

BCATO 50th Anniversary
February 22, 1958
PSATS Secretary “Cappy” Thomson Speaks
Permit me upon this, the occasion of your fiftieth Anniversary of the organization of the Bucks County Association of Township Officials, to extend my hearties congratulations upon achieving this anniversary and upon a half century of progress in local government.  This progress in Bucks County has been led down through the years by your organization.

The writer can give person al testimony as to the substantial extent of this progress as his first visit to this County was in 1916 when he first spoke to this Group as the District Township Engineer of the State Highway Department of this area.

We have seen the field of township government broadened from the early days when the only function of the Township Supervisors was the maintenance of Townships roads down to today when the township supervisors are the executive and legislative officials of the township with practically all the functions and duties as well as responsibilities of a city or borough official.  Indeed, in Bucks County these problems are compounded by the record breaking growth of your townships in the past decade.

After looking back over the past fifty years of progress in Bucks County and you Association’s growth during that time it becomes rather interesting to attempt to see fifty years into the future and what will be the picture of local government in Bucks County at that time.  We would like, in any event, to predict that it will continue to progress and most emphatically we express the hope that it will progress with in the present framework of local government and not permit its powers, duties and functions to slip away to a higher level and more centralized government.

Your local government has proven to be efficient and economical.  It is indeed the exemplification of the fact that the closer  you can keep the government to the people the better that government is going to be.  Our local government here and elsewhere are the bulwarks of our entire system of democracy and when local government begins to disappear with it will disappear the liberties of our people.

BCATO Presidents, 1948 – Present
2007-06 — Tom Scarborough, Doylestown Twp.
2005-04 — Raymond Goodnoe, Newtown Twp.
2003-02 — Frank Fazzolare, Lower Makefield Twp.
2001-00 — Susanne McKeon, L. Southampton Twp.
1999-98 — George Komelasky, Northampton Twp.
1997-96 — Kathleen Babb, Haycock Twp.
1995 — Charles Martin, Upper Southampton Twp.
1994-93 — Robert V. Cotton, New Britain Twp.
1992-91 — Charles Raudenbush Jr., Lower Southampton Twp.
1990-89 — Alexander W. Brasko, Warwick Twp.
1988-87 — James S. Kiel Jr., Plumstead Twp.
1986-85 — Dr. Richard Derstine, West Rockhill Twp.
1984-83 — Diane M. Hering, Doylestown Twp.
1982-81 — Vincent F. Charpentier, Warrington Twp.
1980 — Alfred M. Simons, Buckingham Twp.
1979-78 — Henry Klausfelder, Milford Twp.
1977-76 — Mauro M. Galli, East Rockhill Twp.
1975 — K. Fred Achenbach Jr., Warrington Twp.
1974 — Alfred E. Neal, Upper Makefield Twp.
1973 — William J. Graham, Doylestown Twp.
1972-71 — W. Earl Rockafellow, Buckingham Twp.
1970-69 — Girard A. Pisauro, Lower Makefield Twp.
1968 — James M. Brinker, Doylestown Twp.
1967-66 — William B. Warden, Solebury Twp.
1965-62 — John J. Welsh
1961-60 — Samuel Thomson
1959 — Samuel Thompson
1958 — Camill A. Stroh (BCATO 50th anniversary )
1957 — Clifford Watson
1956-53 — Harry Hoffman, Lower Makefield Twp.
1952-50 — G. Frank Shutt, Doylestown Twp.
1949-48 — William White, Bensalem Twp.

Townships Would Benefit From Mercantile Tax
The power to enact two major forms of business-based taxes, via the Mercantile and Business Privilege tax aws, was given to Pennsylvania’s municipalities until the late 1980s. The mercantile tax assessed a levy on retail and wholesale enterprises’ gross revenues; the business privilege tax permitted a levy on service-based industries.  By 1988, however, as part of a Constitutional Tax Reform package, the General Assembly passed legislation abolishing the municipalities’ authority to enact the mercantile and business privilege taxes.

Although the tax reform bill was defeated by a statewide referendum vote, the Supreme Court upheld its abolishment of these two business-based taxes. In turn, though, municipalities that had already enacted these taxes were permitted to retain them. Instead, the General Assembly “grandfathered” these select municipalities, effectively allowing them the continued right to levy the tax annually, and declining to require them to abolish it. In Bucks County, 10 out of 54 are classified as “grandfathered” with respect to the mercantile and business privilege taxes. Typically, these “grandfathered” communities are situated within the larger and older urban centers with established commercial bases.

Confined to the primary commercial hub of Lower  Bucks County, the mercantile tax levied by these grandfathered communities provides a crucial revenue source aiding these towns in dealing with the many challenges emanating from their business centers, included, but not limited to, roadway traffic and congestion, and unprecedented infrastructure and public safety/services demands.

Since 1988, unbridled population growth and community development patterns forged by land use changes have radically altered the bucolic Bucks County landscape overall. The influence of this growth and development, often referred to as “suburban sprawl,” has brought the same commercial influences to Central Bucks County that the grandfathered Lower Bucks County communities were faced with two decades ago.

For the last 15 years, Warrington has been the most rapidly developing municipality in the Bucks County region. As a result, its local officials have struggle to manage growth and maintain infrastructure, relying solely on residential-based tax revenues to do so. Operation costs and capital improvements necessary to accommodate chart-breaking growth come with an even greater price tag.

Townships and boroughs such as Warrington are faced with the same dilemma. Rather than place the burden of meeting these increased demands on the residential tax payer, it seems the time is overdue to place a “fair share” of the responsibility for closing the gap on the operations revenue shortfall on commercial enterprises.

There’s no doubt there is glaring taxation disparity between the grandfathered communities and the Central Bucks region. The land use shift that has occurred over the last 20 years has made it obvious things need to change.

A reasoned rationale for the reauthorization for the mercantile tax includes arguments for constitutional fairness, tax equity, revenue diversity, citizen receptiveness, transparency, and a local option. While government officials possess the ability to leverage residential tax burdens in grandfathered communities, neighboring Bucks County municipalities are not afforded the opportunity to serve residents in the same manner. The mercantile tax is a significant source of potential revenue. On average, it comprises 30 percent of a grandfathered community’s operating budget.

Southeastern Pennsylvania’s communities, with similar tax bases, where the mercantile tax was not repealed, are shown to have residential tax burdens 50 percent lower than the average non-grandfathered community.  In Montgomery Township, for example, a Montgomery County community bordering Warrington, the mercantile tax alone generated $4 million, allowing the township supervisors to simultaneously fund a property tax homestead exemption and lower the municipal real estate tax over the past 5 years. Additionally, mercantile tax-enabled communities generally have not opted to enact the Emergency (or Local Services) Tax. Shifting the tax burden solely to the employee rather than the employer should be considered not only regressive, but oppressive, in nature since all employees pay the same regardless of wages.

Shifting voter sentiments as it relates to reduced property taxes might be the key to reinstatement. A recent Quinnipiac University poll indicates Pennsylvania voters, by a range of 56 percent to 39 percent, support the use of sales tax to reduce property taxes. Based on the sale of commercial goods, it is clearly the consumer who inevitably pays the sales tax at the register. Again, lower income consumers and families are paying the tax at an equal distribution to higher income wage earners. Although groceries, clothing and services are not taxed with a sales tax, the mercantile tax places a nominal assessment of about 1 to 1.5 mills on gross proceeds for all retail, wholesale and service goods. This is not a consumer-paid tax; it’s levied equally on all businesses.

For municipalities with more depressed economies, a local exemption option should exist so they would not be required to levy the mercantile tax. These regions should not be impeded in their pursuit of viable methods of attracting commercial enterprises and advancing the economic development of their towns. It must be recognized that while we are all part of Pennsylvania, the needs of our populace differ as vastly as our terrain, and one method does not suitably satisfy the tax obligations of all 54 municipalities. Rather than allow a privileged few to reap the benefits of the mercantile tax, advocating a local option to enact the tax would afford the benefit of increased revenue to those residents in areas most adversely affected by unbalanced land use and suburban sprawl.

Townships Save Environment While Saving Money
Sustainable Design, Green Architecture, Integrated Systems Design, High Performance Design; no matter what you call it, it just makes sense to reduce our impact on the environment and save money by integrating environmentally sound design principles and systems into our built environment. Growing concern for the environment, as well as the current and projected increasing cost of utilities has, prompted many municipalities to embrace green design principles in their own projects and promote the use of the same principles by their residents when undertaking a building project.

Many organizations offer guidelines for environmentally sound design and construction principles to those considering a construction project. The United States Green Building Council, or USGBC for short, is one of the organizations that are “LEED”ing the way with their LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) Green Building Rating System. LEED is a voluntary, consensus-based rating system for the design, construction, and operation of high performance green buildings. LEED can be applied to every building type and every phase of a building’s lifecycle which are broken down into the broad categories of New Construction; Existing Buildings; Commercial Interiors; Core and Shell (for speculative buildings); Homes; Schools, Hospitals, Laboratories and Retail; and Neighborhood Development. While the LEED Rating System can be used as a simple guideline for design and construction, building owners can also have their buildings certified by the U.S. Green Building Council. LEED has four levels of certification: Certified, Silver, Gold, and Platinum. These certification levels promote varying degrees of achievement in the following key areas of a building’s impact on the environment:

• Site Development
• Energy Efficiency
• Indoor Air Quality
• Water Conservation
• Renewable & Recycled Materials
• High Performance Design
• Neighborhood Planning

So Why Build Green?
The buildings in which we work, live, and learn are integral to our quality of life and the health of our
environment. Green buildings are healthier, have less environmental impact, use less energy and cost less to operate.

Currently buildings consume: 
12 percent of potable water            
39 percent of primary energy          
40 percent of raw materials            
48 percent of U.S. carbon emissions
70 percent of U.S. electricity

Green Buildings Save:
40 percent of water
30-50 percent of energy
70 percent of solid wast
35 percent of carbon emissions

While it is proven that high performance buildings save energy, carbon emissions, water and solid waste there is no “one size fits all solution” for the design and construction of a green building. Architects and owners must work within the particular parameters that are unique to each project to achieve a common sense, cost effective design solution. It is impossible and impractical to integrate every green building principle into every project.

Does Sustainable Design and Construction Cost More?
Many studies have been conducted in recent years to determine if green building principles add cost to a project. One of the most widely referenced studies completed by Davis Langdon in 2004 and 2007 has found that, “there is no significant difference in average costs for green buildings as compared to non-green buildings. Many project teams are building green buildings with little or no added cost, and with budgets well within the cost range of non-green buildings with similar programs. We have also found that in many areas of the country, the contracting community has embraced sustainable design, and no longer sees sustainable design requirements as additional burdens to be priced in their bids.”

When striving for LEED Certification, a third party Commissioning Agent is required to be involved with the design, documentation and construction of the building to ensure that what is designed actually gets built and that systems function in an energy efficient manner as indicated by the initial design and documentation. Depending on the size of the project this could add between one and two percent to the design fees. This is more than offset by the average 20% payback that is made possible by the energy efficiency of the building systems over the lifetime of the building.

Local Municipalities and Building Owners are “LEED”ing the Way.
While green building principles have been at the forefront of design and construction in states such as Oregon and Washington for more than a decade, the state of Pennsylvania, as well as local municipalities and building owners are commonly implementing as many green building principles into their buildings as is possible and practical.

The County of Bucks is currently undertaking renovations and an addition to Churchville Nature Center which was originally constructed in 1964. The goal of the project is to incorporate green technology and environmental education into the construction of the building so that the building itself is an exhibit and a teaching tool for environmentally responsible green design. With this in mind, Churchville Nature Center will contain a Green Building Demonstration Hall. In this space visitors can learn more about the green technologies utilized in the center’s design and construction. This space is located under the sun-lit, airy heights of the cooling tower. Here, visitors can view displays which are lit by energy collected by the solar panels located on top of the cooling tower and describe the building’s geothermal mechanical systems, vegetated roof, grey water recycling for the flushing of toilets, use of reclaimed/salvaged beams, recycled furnishings and other sustainable features. This building has been designed to achieve LEED Silver Certification.

New Hope Borough is also setting an example for environmentally sensitive design. Their first step was to purchase a site that contained a vacated church, rectory and garage building. When possible, the reuse of existing sites, buildings and infrastructure is a critical first step to reducing our impact on the environment. The rectory building will be renovated to house administrative offices. The church building will be renovated and expanded to house a community meeting room and the Borough’s police department. The building’s addition is a good example of integrated design and proves that close collaboration of the owner and all design disciplines is critical to a successful green design.

When the building and site were looked at independently, it appeared as though the building addition would be constructed in a traditional style and of traditional materials and the sloped site would require significant retaining walls to ac-commodate handicapped parking and access to the building. When the site design and building design were looked at in an integrated manner the building addition was tucked into the slope and became the retaining walls needed for the required handicapped parking. Sheltering the building with earth not only accommodated a parking requirement but also insulated the building to reduce heating and cooling costs and allowed grade access to a vegetated roof garden that will serve functions that spill out from the community room in good weather. The addition will be further differentiated from the existing stone church building, which is located in the Historic District, by the use of a “green grid” system on all exposed walls which will allow plants that will thrive in the conditions present at the site to grow on the walls and allow the addition to disappear into the sloping landscape of the site.

Another project striving to achieve LEED Silver Certification currently in the design stage is the Newtown Township Municipal Complex. This project includes renovations, additions and new construction to house administration, police, public works and park & recreation uses. In this project, the entire site and its buildings are being designed using an integrated approach to achieve LEED Certification as a complex. Some of the sustainable features include use of pre-engineered and precast building systems that utilize high recycled content for the public works building. All buildings have been designed to maximize the use of day lighting and natural views in occupied spaces. The fact that all buildings are located in a central location will reduce fuel consumption by residents that utilize the various services provided by the Township. The use of high performance windows and wall construction systems will increase the building envelopes insulation value and decrease the size, initial cost and operational cost of the mechanical systems. Centralized campus-wide heating and cooling systems are also being considered. As in most green building projects, recycling of construction waste, the use of materials with high recycled content and the use of local materials is the foundation of the sustainable design strategy.

Other local businesses are also embracing and promoting green design. First Savings Bank of Perkasie recently completed construction of a new 40,000 square foot operations center that utilized a former brown field site and building with assistance from the Bucks County Redevelopment Authority.

Sustainable features include the reuse of a building and site, use of recycled building materials, use of low VOC emitting materials and the use of a high per-formance raised flooring system which distributes heating and cooling and allows for easy access and reconfiguration of the building’s modular “plug and play” electrical distribution system.

The relocation and construction of their architectural offices in 2003 provided George J. Donovan AIA & Associates an opportunity to practice what they preach.  Their new offices utilize a former contractor’s building and site that stood vacant for a few years. The oldest portion of the building was built in the 1860’s and the remainder of the building was built in 1906. Once again, the adaptive reuse of an existing building and site was at the core of the sustainable design approach. In addition to this, employee fuel consumption was reduced by relocating the office closer to their homes. Some of the sustainable design features include: maximizing day lighting and views, the use of waterless urinals to reduce water consumption, reducing site/parking lighting to a minimum and installation of motion activated site lighting controls to limit light pollution.