It was announced at the Dec. 16 Emmaus Borough Council meeting the borough is putting the old Rodale property back up for sale.

The property, located at 33 E. Minor St. and the adjacent parking lot at 10 E. Minor St. were bought by the borough for $2.95 million back in 2015. The plan was to convert the former Rodale headquarters into the new municipal offices.

Borough Manager Shane Pepe said the reselling of the property was decided after they were given a new quoted construction estimate of $14.8 million, which is nearly triple the originally quoted price of $4.9 million.

Pepe said they had Boyle Construction of Allentown come in, acting as a consultant for USA Architect, in September to get a new estimate on the construction. Pepe said they asked the contractor to “act as if you’re bidding on this project as it looks today. The scope hasn’t changed since the beginning, but we need a real number so that way we can decide on the future.”

The consultant came back and said “current municipal projects that are being done are going for $300 per square foot.” The Rodale property is 42,000 square feet. Pepe said the consultant gave several examples of projects currently being done in surrounding municipalities.

Pepe noted they then had another contractor come through who gave an estimate of around $11.2 million. This contractor did not include Pennsylvania Prevailing Wage Act in his estimate, which would bring the total to around $14.8 million like the previous consultant had given.

Pepe stated these construction consultants gain nothing from giving estimates, as they do not get paid higher wages depending on the pricing and are not eligible to do the project because they were consultants.

Pepe said the commitment was $4 million and they could have possibly swallowed $6 million with the right funding and grant money.

“Can we swallow $11 to 14 million? Absolutely not. We can’t do that to this community,” Pepe said.

It would have cost the community $898,000 a year for the next 20 years to fund it.

He said as a borough, they could not put the community through it. “That would not be fiscally responsible. That would be absolutely irresponsible,” Pepe said.

The borough is currently leasing the building to Seven Generations Charter School for $212,000 annually, which is covering the mortgage of the building.

The plan is to take the proceeds from the sale of the property to renovate the current borough hall which needs “serious improvements.” The borough building itself needs a new roof and windows, while the police department and central station also have a lot of work that needs to be done.

In other business, the 2020 budget was officially approved at $18.4 million, which is a 3.01 percent increase from 2019. The final distribution of the budget is as follows: $11,948,993 - general, $1,387,465 - fire, $1,200,780 - water, $1,953,016 - sewer, $815,387 - debt services, $512,575 - capital projects and $613,654 - liquid fuels. The grand total is $18,431,870.

Along with the new budget comes a tax hike of 9.61 percent. Part of that tax hike comes from the property tax, which will rise from 5.6654 mills to 6.3154 mills. With this 0.65 mills increase, homeowners with property assessed at the borough’s average of $161,000 will be paying an extra $104.71 in property taxes. An additional $33.63 will be added for sewer rates, which will have the average Emmaus household paying an additional $138.25 in taxes in 2020.

Resolution 2019-46 passed, which pertains to refuse collection and compost site assessment fees. If residents pay their full refuse bill before or on Feb. 18, 2020, they will get a discounted rate of $350. Any resident who does not pay before or on the deadline will be billed $100 each quarter, totaling $400 for the year. There are discounted rates available for residents 62 years of age or older who fall under specific requirements. More information can be found on the borough website.

Councilman Jeff Shubzda had his final meeting as an Emmaus borough councilman. Shubzda, who has served on council for eight years, decided not to run for re-election this past fall. He thanked both the community and council members for a memorable eight years.

“The future has many challenges facing this council, but I have all the confidence in the world that they will make the right decisions,” Shubzda said.

He also thanked the residents for believing in him. “This is an amazing community with some amazing people. I did my best to represent you on this council and tried to make the right decisions.”

Every council member, Pepe, Mayor Lee Ann Gilbert and Borough Solicitor Jeffery Dimmich all spoke highly of Shubzda and said he will be missed on council.