There's good news for Collier taxpayers: 2009 will not see an increase in the current 3.5 real estate millage rate.

As of Monday, the proposed budget for the new year is available for public review at the municipal building during regular business hours. It also is posted on Collier's Web site: www.colliertownship.net, where it can be downloaded.

The proposed spending plan estimates revenues for 2009 at $5,830,465. Expenditures are estimated at $5,898,179.

Commissioner Bob Schuler, finance committee chairman, said officials have yet to decide on which capital expenditures to undertake in the new year. Among the more than $2 million in capital projects under consideration are park enhancements, a contracted road improvement program and township facility improvements.

The budget is scheduled to be adopted Dec. 9.

• The board agreed to amend the park ordinance to read that such facilities, including the Panhandle Trail, will be open from dawn to dusk. Anyone using any of the parks or trail before or after those hours must have permits to do so. The amendment is intended to provide more enforcement powers to police.

• Commissioners Kay Downey-Clarke and Bob Schuler were appointed representatives to a tax-increment financing committee on the development of the Trader Jack Flea Market property into a retail and hotel area.

• The board accepted the resignation of Curt Henry from the Parks and Recreation Board. Kayak Iyer was appointed.

• A five-year contract with Triangle Pet, the township's animal control service, was approved.

• Certificates of commendation were issued to police officers Greg Jolley and Eric Davis, who responded to a recent call for a teenage girl in cardiac arrest. When they arrived, they took over for the girl's father, who had been administering cardiopulmonary resuscitation.

• District Justice Elaine McGraw, of South Fayette, swore in police sergeants John Andreou, Robert Ferrence and Brian Halbleib.

Council on postponed approval of a preliminary $4.4 million budget Nov. 12, following a 4-4 tie that led Mayor Susan O'Connell to adjourn until last night.

Council members Tom Byers, Dan Cindric, Mary Luxbacher and Susan Viola voted against the budget, which calls for a 2-mill tax increase that will raise the rate to 9.25 mills.

Councilman Tom Byers said layoffs and cuts in services must be considered because of the downwturn in the economy and resulting decreased revenues.

• Council approved an ordinance establishing a permit parking program. The program will allow residents of each block to petition for permit parking, providing 75 percent of them want it.

The cost of the permits, which will be good for two years, will be determined later, but according to borough Manager Doug Sample, they are expected be $10 or $20.

Residents will be required to provide vehicle registrations to receive a permit that will cover all vehicles at a residence. One visitor permit per home will be issued and holidays will be exempt from permit requirement.

Permit parking is being considered because of problems with overflow parking at the Port Authority's park-n-ride lots.

• Council appointed Ed Doherty, Jr. to a vacancy on the Civil Service Commission.

Council has adopted a $2.5 million budget for 2009 that keeps the 8-mill property tax rate. The vote to pass the spending plan was 9-0.

Real-estate taxes represented the biggest chunk of borough revenue projected at $1 million, followed by revenue from the earned income tax at $245,000, the business privilege tax at $195,000, and the local services tax at $115,000. The mercantile tax will bring in $65,000.

The cable TV franchise fee will return $85,000 to the borough, and revenues of $65,000 are expected from police fines.

The borough's share of the RAD tax, derived from the one percent sales tax levied in Allegheny County, half of which is allocated to municipal governments, will amount to $200,000.

On the spending side, public safety remains the biggest budget item, with $1.1 million going to the police department. The McKees Rocks Volunteer Fire Department will receive $96,000 in borough funding, and the street department will receive $525,250. Street lighting will cost the borough $140,000, and the cost to run the borough building, which includes utilities, repairs and maintenance, comes out to $75,800.

Sewer fund income for 2009 is projected at $903,500 with bulk of that money, or $900,000, coming from sewage payments by residents and businesses.

Sewer system maintenance is projected to cost $189,000, and debt service payments for 2009 will come to $99,500. Two-thirds, or $600,000 of what the borough collects in sewage fees, goes to ALCOSAN, to pay the borough's share for sewage treatment costs.

Supervisors awarded $211,675 in contracts Tuesday for construction of a multipurpose building in the community park on Donaldson Road.

The 2,400-sqaure-foot building will be near three new baseball fields and will be used for concessions, restrooms and storage. Township officials expect it will be ready when the park opens this spring.

The contracts went to Sterling Contracting LLC of Homestead, $129,800 for general construction; McRandal Co. of Pittsburgh, $42,000 for plumbing work; L.W. Ltd. of Presto, $24,975 for electrical work; and Controlled Climate Systems Inc. of Canonsburg, $14,900 for the heating/ventilation/air conditioning system.

Property owners will not see their taxes rise this year -- the budget is not due for approval until the end of the year, but the commissioners Monday kept taxes at 3.84 mills.

The commissioners have already discussed parts of the budget and will continue to do so in workshops Dec. 1 and Dec. 8. They set the public hearing on the budget for 7 p.m. Dec. 15.

• Commissioners hope next month also will bring to a conclusion a long-standing effort to sell development rights to the former Western Pennsylvania Industrial Boys Home. The sale is expected to be on the agenda for the state farmland preservation board Dec. 11.

If the sale goes through, it will be the first time the program has been used to protect public land. The board typically buys development rights from private farmers, letting the farmers get the economic benefits of the land without selling it for development. This keeps sprawl from eating up valuable land without penalizing the landowners.

The Boys Home was once used for orphans and other boys, who farmed much of the property. It is now a township park, with much of the land leased to neighboring farmers.

The township is retaining the rights to certain areas which could be used for ball fields or other active recreation; the rest will have to remain in a natural state or as farmland.

• Commissioners approved plans for Complete Fitness Center, a workout business in the former Standard Trolley and General Roofing building on Washington Pike.

The plan in the works for more than a year, stalled once over parking and a second time over the uncertain status of a parcel on the lot.

The site plan was reworked to get the proper number of parking spaces, but the separate parcel was a tangled problem. The parcel includes a building with an operating business, but the tract is landlocked by the main parcel. The business has an easement for access to public roads, but the easement runs afoul of various township codes.

Solicitor Jon Kamin worked with the developer and Allegheny County to treat the lot in question as a separate parcel, adding language to ensure that the easement is permanent.

"There is not really a good answer here," he said, "but this should satisfy everyone's needs."

Commissioner Deron Gabriel abstained, saying there was not enough information to vote.

• Commissioners Monday authorized the formation of a Community Center Study Committee, which will look into what the township needs from such a center.

HRG Architects/Engineering was recently retained to do a community center feasibility study, looking at various possible locations.

The township has outgrown its center on Millers Run Road, and is looking at possibilities. Newbury Market developers have offered to host a community Center on their property. The former Star City Cinema building on Route 50 has also been discussed. The township also owns several parcels that could be used.