Laurels & lances: Taxes & sentencing
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Laurel: To taking action. Tarentum property owners will feel an extra pinch in their tax bill next year, but it might be a better benefit in the long run.
Council passed a 9% tax increase that will take the cost for an average homeowner from $219 to $239. So what does that $20 mean?
It’s a dedicated fire tax to support the community’s three volunteer fire departments.
That’s a smart move, as more departments face a crisis in finding the volunteers to provide protection and funding to make that critical service possible.
A specific fire tax also gives the departments a reliable number to do their own planning. The money is earmarked for equipment and apparatuses. It’s also less than $15,000 each for Eureka Fire-Rescue, Highland Hose and Summit Hose. The $17,000 annual contributions for each from the borough also will continue.
While it might cause grumbling from those who haven’t seen a tax increase in Tarentum for 20 years, the $20 is nothing compared to the benefits of a fire department. There’s having someone answering calls to save your house or your life, of course. But, monetarily, there are also benefits to having a good department when it comes to insurance bills.
Lance: To unintended consequences. An injury leading to addiction is a familiar story. For Paige Hufnagel, it had a terrible twist.
She was playing basketball at North Allegheny when she tore her ACL and meniscus, setting her on a path that would take her from prescription painkillers to illegal opioids. It’s a sad tale and the harsh reality of many addicts in recent years.
For Hufnagel, 31, that reality turned more tragic in May 2022 when her son Robbie, 2, died of a fentanyl overdose. Police found the home scattered with stamp bags estimated in the thousands. The boy’s father, James Kraft, knew the bags contained drug residue; that was why he kept them around.
Kraft was found guilty of third-degree murder, endangering the welfare of children and reckless endangerment this year. He was sentenced to 25 to 50 years.
Hufnagel pleaded guilty to three counts of endangering the welfare of children. She was sentenced Monday to four to eight years in prison. It will be followed by 10 years of probation.
Allegheny County Common Pleas Judge Jennifer Satler was not moved by Hufnagel’s familiar spiral into addiction or the sobriety she has embraced since a 2023 overdose.
“(Your three sons) would have been safer standing out on the street,” Satler said. “I consider you to be a lethal threat to any child in your care.”