One of Lancaster Inter-Municipal Committee's largest municipalities soon will no longer be a part of the organization.
East Hempfield supervisors have voted to withdraw their township from the LIMC, a 12-member council of governments in central Lancaster County.
The supervisors approved a measure during their meeting Dec. 19 asking East Hempfield staff to draft a letter informing the LIMC that East Hempfield — Lancaster's second-largest suburb — wants to "discontinue its involvement" with the LIMC council of governments.
Backers of the move said it will save East Hempfield the $14,415 contribution it would have made in 2013 to the LIMC, according to organization figures, although its actual contribution might actually have worked out to a smaller figure, officials say.
East Hempfield supervisors Brett Miller, Doug Brubaker and Scott Russell voted in favor of dropping out of the LIMC.
Supervisor John Bingham, who spoke heatedly against the move, and G. Edward LeFevre were in favor of staying in.
Said Miller, "I think it's in the best interests of East Hempfield Township."
Township Manager Robert Krimmel, after Miller made a motion to send the letter, urged him to reconsider, calling the move "a little hasty."
But Miller said he had been thinking East Hempfield should leave the LIMC for some time.
As they have studied the township's 2013 budget, Miller said, the supervisors have "closely looked at each expenditure, and when the LIMC had voted to more than double the membership fees to (East Hempfield), the majority of the board did not believe this to be a wise use of the residents' tax dollars."
He and others, Miller added, feel "East Hempfield was already financing nearly all of the services to its residents that the LIMC was also attempting to provide. ... We did not believe it was the best use of our finances to pay twice for duplicate services."
Said Bingham, "To me, it's very difficult, because I was involved with the LIMC from the beginning, and I know what it is and not what it's perceived by some to be."
Bingham expects the actual cost East Hempfield would have paid for 2013, once a final determination is made, to be closer to the $7,000 or so it has paid in past years, he said.
"It bothers me the most that the two municipalities that are most able to pay (to be in LIMC) with the least difficulty want to get out," Bingham said, referring to his township and Manheim Township.
"I worry about the attitude of isolationism, that 'East Hempfield can go it alone,'" he added.
"There's political clout in having an organization that represents well over half the population of Lancaster County," Bingham added, "and that is an advantage that will be eroded."
Under the preliminary LIMC contribution figures for 2013, East Hempfield's would have been the third-largest among LIMC municipalities, trailing only Lancaster's largest suburb, Manheim Township ($21,804), and Lancaster city ($15,318).
The contribution is based on a municipality's earned-income tax and assessed property valuation.
East Hempfield's vote to drop out comes as the LIMC's executive director, Michael LaSala, this month announced he's leaving the organization for a job in private business. His last day with the LIMC is Friday, Jan. 4.
LIMC on its website describes itself as a council of governments established to address intermunicipal challenges and concerns. It facilitates intermunicipal cooperation, it says, and helps coordinate multimunicipal programs or endeavors, undertakes projects that will benefit its member municipalities and provides a forum for municipal officials to discuss issues of mutual interest.
With East Hempfield's departure, other municipalities might be considering the same thing, some local officials concede.
"It is possible" that Manheim Township's decision-making commissioners will decide that, township Manager Mike Rimer said.
LIMC costs have increased the past few years, Rimer noted, and township officials have questioned the fairness of what they pay, wondering "whether it is equitable to have Manheim Township carry 22.1 percent ($21,804) of the cost of the LIMC," Rimer said.
The township's LIMC representative, Commissioner Al Kling, has suggested that each LIMC member share equally the organization's overhead costs, while distributing the remaining share of costs via the current share formula, or on a per-capita basis.
Under Kling's formula, Manheim Township would still pay more than a smaller community. Rimer expects the commissioners to discuss the issue at their next meeting, on Monday, Jan. 14.
With East Hempfield's departure, "it is unfortunate to have a municipality that was instrumental in establishing the LIMC as a council of governments withdraw," LaSala said.
But the supervisors "made a decision they felt was in the best interest of their municipality. The LIMC respects the decision, as a primary purpose of the group is to preserve individual municipal authority."
The members of the LIMC are the city of Lancaster; the boroughs of Columbia, East Petersburg, Millersville and Mountville; and the townships of East Hempfield, East Lampeter, Lancaster, Manheim, Manor, West Hempfield and West Lampeter.
Remaining LIMC members have agreed to build on cooperative successes that have happened over the past year and go forward together, LaSala added.
doconnor@lnpnews.com
