Lower Providence Plans For 2017 Finances and Approves The Start of Road Engineering Study

The Lower Providence Board of Supervisors discussed good news at their Thursday night meeting, specifically, that the township will fulfill its financial obligation to its low-interest Pennsylvania Infrastructure Bank (PIB) loan in 2017, meaning that $484,000 in township funds will be freed up, possibly for road maintenance, and the supervisors approved the start of a road engineering study, as well.

The township had received the PIB loan, which is a state-sponsored loan, from a Pennsylvania Department of Transportation (PennDOT) program, which has a very low interest rate, and which the township was able to use to pave roads, according to Township Manager Richard Gestrich. The township received the loan in 2006, and the final payment is due in 2006, he said after the meeting.

The PIB loan was refinanced in 2010, at which time it was reclassified as a debt that was refinanced through the Delaware Valley Regional Finance Authority, Gestrich said after the meeting. At that time in 2010, $2.5 million was left for the township to repay.

Gestrich asked the township engineer, Pete Eisenbrown, to prepare a long-range road engineering plan that will cost $13,000.

Eisenbrown said that he can prepare a plan for township road maintenance that will give the supervisors a “roadmap” that will be usable for the next five years for how they decide to spends funds on the roads. Some roads, like a dead-end cul-de-sac, last longer than others, he said.

“In the big picture I think its best to know all of the options and then you can evaluate them yourself,” he said.

The supervisors unanimously passed a motion to enter into the engineering study proposal with Eisenbrown.