Ben Avon looks to Avalon for police

&emsp;&emsp;Ben Avon residents who need to call 9-1-1 about a repeatedly raucous New Year's Eve party next door might find themselves questioning their own perceptions when the police officers who respond at 1 a.m. appear to be wearing different uniforms and driving different cars than the ones who responded at 11 p.m.&emsp;&emsp;That's because Ben Avon's longtime police services contract with Ohio Township is likely to come to an end as the ball drops in Times Square, and the Avalon Police Department is expected to begin coverage of Ben Avon Borough as of Jan. 1, 2025.&emsp;&emsp;The change is being lauded as a major cost-saving measure by Ben Avon officials, who have been spent the past year negotiating a new contract with Ohio Township only to find the two municipalities hundreds of thousands of dollars apart.&emsp;&emsp;Ben Avon had a contract with Ohio Township through 2026, but the township invoked a clause in that contract that allowed them to reopen the agreement if their cost of providing police services increased by a specific amount per year. Ben Avon Council reported a year ago that Ohio Township had proposed a new five-year contract that would cause Ben Avon's fees to increase by some 138 percent by 2028. The cost of police services, Ben Avon officials said, would increase the percentage of the borough's annual budget dedicated to police from 22 to 40 percent.&emsp;&emsp;In 2022, Ben Avon paid OT a total of $291,367, which includes court time and miscellaneous expenses in addition to a base fee of $291,367. In 2023, the total expenditure for police services was $300,831 ($293,381 base) and the 2024 cost is projected to total $307,735, with a base fee of $299,835.&emsp;&emsp;Under the new proposed contract with OT, officials said, the base fee would increase to $688,040 by 2028. Their report stated that this increase would result in a median tax increase of $552 per year for the borough's property owners, with the half of property owners with lower property assessments paying an additional $342 per year, and the other half seeing an increase of $795 per year. Officials said this would represent a 63 percent increase over current taxes. &emsp;&emsp;Ben Avon Council president Rick Wagner and member Ken Opipery Jr. have expressed concern over the past year that their review of records provided by OT did not seem to support the township's assertion that the cost of providing protection in Ben Avon had increased so much.&emsp;&emsp;We never could justify the numbers they were giving us," Wagner said at the Nov. 19 council meeting.&emsp;&emsp;Opipery said that Avalon Borough, on the other hand, provided information that more closely aligned with the conclusion reached by Ben Avon officials.&emsp;&emsp;The contract with Avalon — which has not yet been approved by either borough councils — covers a two-year period beginning Jan. 1, 2025. The total cost to Ben Avon next year would be $387,900 ($380,000 base), with a 3 percent increase in price for 2026 and any future years for which the contract is renewed.&emsp;&emsp;Ben Avon property owners will still have to bear the cost of even the lesser increase ($80,165) offered by Avalon, and as of Tuesday officials were looking at a property tax increase to do that.&emsp;&emsp;Opipery, who serves as council's finance chair, said that the only way that Ben Avon could get through 2025 without a tax increase would be by decreasing the amount budgeted for capital projects by $80,000. Officials have been building up a capital reserve that they hope will cover the cost of repaving Church Avenue in the near future, a project Opipery estimated will cost $500,000.&emsp;&emsp;Opipery estimated the impact of the proposed property tax increase next year. Owners of median valued properties would pay $110 more next year, with the increase ranging from $68 to $161 for higher and lower valued properties.&emsp;&emsp;An exact millage rate cannot be determined at this time, as Ben Avon employs a unique system by which council authorizes a budget for the coming year, then waits until Allegheny County releases assessed property value data in January to determine what millage rate will be needed to provide the revenue needed. &emsp;&emsp;Opipery said that Ben Avon officials worked hard to find the best solution to the issue of providing police services to the borough's residents and businesses.&emsp;&emsp;"We did our due diligence," he said. "We didn't just take what was handed to us."&emsp;&emsp;&emsp;&emsp; &emsp;&emsp; &emsp;&emsp;