In an about-face from two weeks prior, Zelienople's proposed 2021 budget no longer includes a half-mill increase in its fire tax.

During a special meeting Monday, borough council approved the re-advertisement of the amended preliminary budget, which keeps the borough's total real estate tax rate at 5.81 mills, including a 2-mill tax that is remitted to the Harmony Fire District.

Its first preliminary budget, approved for advertisement at a Nov. 9 meeting, included a 0.5-mill increase in the fire tax that would have helped fund the construction of a new fire station at a Jackson Township site on Route 19, just north of Zelienople.

But Zelienople had intended to be one among the four municipalities the district serves to raise the fire tax. Since Harmony similarly tabled the issue at its Nov. 10 council meeting, the borough did not want to make the start of a two-phase increase without other participation.

“The other municipalities did not elect to raise the fire tax, and we do not want to be the only one,” vice president Andrew Mathew said.

Mathew added the department had recently held elections and chose Kevin Behun as its president, replacing longtime fireman and president Tim Sapienza. Behun is evaluating whether the location is a proper site for the new station, according to Mathew.

Council President Allen Bayer said “there's just so much unknown at this point.”

Behun is “reconsidering the whole project, including the structure as well as the location,” Bayer said. “I'm not saying there's going to be a change,” but it's possible.

In addition to the department's plans being in flux, other municipalities have questioned the fire district's site location, particularly given that its proposed $7.8 million price tag is higher than stations built by or for other nearby fire companies recently.

Zelienople's proposed $11.4 million budget remains a roughly 3% increase from its 2020 budget.