Bowmanstown Borough Council voted to move forward into 2017 without a tax increase to residents.

The board adopted the proposed financial schedule last week, continuing last year's tax rate of 11.005 mills."There are no major changes this year," said council President Kara Scott regarding the borough's spending and revenue.Following the vote the board made a motion to appoint Sean Corey as the new zoning/building code officer. The borough had previously paid $195 a month to Duane Dellecker for filling the needed municipality positions. According to the board, Dellecker's state certification had lapsed before the deadline for the 2017 year."The planning commission needs Duane because of his experience and background with the zoning book. It's been updated, but we need to look at it and be able to understand it," Councilman Robert Moyer said."Can we appoint Duane as an alternate and put Corey in until Duane is certified," Councilman Norman Engle Jr. asked.Council Vice President Pam Leiby said the borough no longer has a building code officer due to Dellecker's certification lapse."We need to do something with the BCO," she said."We should appoint Duane as an alternate as long as he gets approved by the state in 90 days," Engle said.Council members Moyer, Engle and Burdell Steigerwalt agreed while John Domant, Leiby and Scott were opposed. Councilman Darren Thomas was the tie breaker in favor of appointing Dellecker."No one has a problem with him not coming forward and telling the borough his certifications expired in April?" Leiby asked."I'm looking at the interest of the borough and the residents," Engle said."Well, why didn't the state let Duane know? They contacted all the places he worked for even though he took all the accredited courses. I tend to agree with the motion made by Engle," Thomas said."We do need a BCO, we can come back to this in January but we need to protect the borough and residents' interest in the short term," Moyer said.The motion passed to appoint Dellecker to the alternate BCO position.