Wayne Smith, of Allentown
I was astonished to read the recent local media news articles regarding Allentown Borough officials’ plans to bill the Hope Fire Company for sewer and water use. With one hand, we budget funds for the fire company; with the other, we propose taking some of these funds away – totally absurd.
As stated in one article, year after year, the fire company presents its budget to the borough with the fire company officials stating that nothing changes. My initial thought was – well, many of our firefighters and their families vote, time and time again, for these same officials, yet expect change. I suppose that’s optimism.
To quote the recently deceased news commentator, Paul Harvey: “… now, The Rest of the Story.”
Apparently, without so much as an ounce of common sense, our officials sent the borough engineer to perform a dye test of the fire company waste system. Tests, of course, resulted in proof that the firehouse is not connected to the borough sewer system.
One can only wonder, at what cost to the taxpayers, this futile effort was conducted. As with other borough residents, I am left with the question as to why we did not just rely on the building plans for the firehouse — before submitting bills to the fire company. After all, they are official documents and would have served to quickly resolve the issue, most certainly with less expense but, to be sure, with less embarrassment.

