Mahoning Township residents will maintain the same tax rate from 2016 to 2017.

During the Wednesday night board of supervisors meeting, four out of five supervisors voted to keep the 0.00425 cents for every dollar of assessed property valuation.Police mattersAccording to the township secretary and treasurer Natalie Haggerty, the municipality has allocated $10,000 for a drug task force and will also look to hire part-time police officers."The demand for police is greater than the actual police supply," she said.During themeeting, township officer Amie Barclay was named officer in charge for weekdays between 7 a.m. and 3

p.m.Barclay has been a member of the force since 1998, police Chief Audie Mertz said.The chief's contract was also a topic of discussion.After an hourlong executive session, a motion was passed to include a 2.5 percent pay rate increase for the 2017 budget.GrantsMahoning will join with Franklin Township and Lehighton borough in applying for a grant in an effort to update zoning codes throughout the three municipalities.Zoning Code Officer Carl Faust said some of the towns have not seen updates in more than 20 years."Franklin Township's date back to 1972," he said. "Mahoning isn't too bad. They were done in 2000."Faust and Haggerty both said that the more municipalities that partnered together for the project will increase the odds of a grant being awarded to Carbon County.