Lebanon County Commissioners provide funding for transit, prison projects

This article was funded by LebTown donors as part of our Civic Impact Reporting Project.

Lebanon County Commissioners on Thursday unanimously approved providing over $93,000 annually for three years toward Lebanon Transit’s planned $48 million operations and maintenance facility construction project in the city.

In a separate discussion on what was a packed agenda, commissioners voted unanimously to provide $186,000 to replace a fire safety system that is over 30 years old at the Lebanon County Correctional Facility.

Following the meeting, commissioners also took action concerning two assessment requests after convening the county’s tax assessment board.

Lebanon Transit 

Commissioners agreed to provide up to $280,703 in matching funds for the transportation authority’s new Transit Operations and Maintenance Facility construction project. The county’s share will be paid in installments of $93,567.66 in 2027 and $93,567.67 in 2028 and 2029.

Transit officials had requested the funding at a workshop session in mid-January. 

At that time, a project manager told commissioners that a decision was needed quickly since the project is slated to be put out for bids by the end of February. It was stated Thursday that bids are expected to go out in March.

It was noted at the workshop session that the authority “cannot bid the project until local match funds are received or a letter of commitment has been provided committing the outstanding local match funds to the project.”

“Of the $48 million, right now there’s $24.6 million in federal funds, anticipated $22.6 million in state funds, and then the remainder in local match,” said project manager Toby Fauver of Rockland Planning Inc. “And of that local match, LT had applied for funding from the local share account and they did receive an award of $116,000 from the local share account. They also received $1,300 from the City of Lebanon and then the difference, the remainder has been applied out of Lebanon Transit’s local share fund that they have maintained.”

Transit officials plan to consolidate services into one location instead of the two it currently owns and operates. Administration and fixed bus routes are at 200 Willow St., while shared ride services are based nearby at 145 Schneider Drive.

“The project is to rebuild on the existing site that Lebanon Transit’s on, and includes some additional property that they had acquired with PennDOT’s help,” Fauver said. “It would replace the administration facility, the maintenance facility, vehicle storage facility, and would also consolidate shared ride, the shared ride vehicles to that site.”

Besides consolidating services into one location, it was noted that the transportation company’s facilities are over 30 years old and “undersized to handle the current fleet.” The new facility is expected to have a lifespan of 40 to 50 years.

Fire protection system upgrade at LCCF

Tina Litz, warden at LCCF, requested and commissioners unanimously approved spending $186,000 to make upgrades to the county’s fire protection system, which was found to be obsolete during an inspection.

“Our system is approximately 33 years old. So over the course of the years, I think in 2023, I presented to the board and you guys allowed me to pull money for $26,000 worth of needed work fixes for what we have,” Litz said. “We get inspected annually and semi-annually and we have to do that for safety and standard protocol but also for the Department of Corrections inspection purposes. What has come to light is that our system is antiquated and it needs a full upgrade.”

Given that the funding for this needed upgrade was not included in the 2026 budget proposal from the prison, the county has struck a deal with Johnson Controls on a payment plan. The county will pay $99 a month through the end of 2026 toward the contract’s overall cost and then include the balance in the 2027 budget.

“I think we were trying to piece rate it through the course of time and we’re now at the position where we really need to upgrade the panel and everything with it. It is a lot of money,” Litz said. “I understand that I don’t have this money and didn’t present it in the budget. I didn’t have everything I needed at the time.”

Litz said she can afford the $99 monthly payment through her 2026 budget and until funds are available in 2027 to pay off the rest of the project.

“That’s the best solution I could come up with for the position that we’re in. Their machinery and equipment is proprietary. We are in contract currently with them (Johnson) until the end of December 2026. So the need is great.”

County administrator Jamie Wolgemuth told commissioners that there’s no penalty for early payoff of the lease amount. “So we basically will be maintaining the lease until the ’27 year when you need to budget for it. And then we pay it off.” 

This repair, coupled with others budgeted for 2026, brings facility improvements at the county prison to $990,000. Commissioners agreed in approving the 2026 budget to spend over $810,000 for several notable capital projects at LCCF. 

Those projects include continuation of security camera and access controls installation at the prison for $400,000, and replacement of the jail’s water boilers, which LebTown previously reported were past their useful life, at $412,000. 

This is the third year of a planned three-year capital improvement project at the prison, according to previously published LebTown reports.

In a separate action, commissioners gave permission to Litz to apply for a 2026 non-competitive grant of up to $113,281 to help offset costs for administration of the Medication-Assisted Abuse Treatment program for addicted inmates.

Other county business

In other business, commissioners unanimously agreed to:

• Grant two requests from Lebanon County Children & Youth Services. The first item witnessed passage of a budget amendment of $1,642,312 for fiscal year 2024/25. The second was to pay first quarter invoices for fiscal year 2025/26 totaling $5,131,299.62.
• Take two actions concerning the Clarence Shock Memorial Park Board: passage of a resolution to increase the number of board members from six to seven, and the appointment of Nicole Gray of Lebanon to replace board member David “Chip” Brightbill, who died last year. Gray, who is the executive director of the Community Health Council of Lebanon County, will serve out Brightbill’s term through 2027.
• Agree to spend $180,000 from the Record Improvement Account to upgrade records for the prothonotary’s office. Total project cost is $191,542.80. Improvements will allow for ease of searching for old civil case files, preserve files in compliance with the Pennsylvania Historical & Museum Commission, and conserve space within that county office. The work, which includes scanning 2.1 million documents, will be conducted by Reynolds Business Systems, based in the Lehigh Valley. After the meeting, Wolgemuth told LebTown there are 25 years worth of records to be scanned into a digital format, a higher figure than was stated at the meeting.
• Hire Lebanon-based Integrity Land Works to provide various snow removal services for the Renova Center. Terms include $160/hour for a plow vehicle, $120/hour to shovel or blow snow, $160/hour for a loader machine to push or haul snow, and $180/hour for a dump truck to haul snow. Additional costs are $0.35/pound for rock salt for application to asphalt; and $0.80/pound for magnesium chloride or similar product for sidewalk treatment. It is approximated that 100 pounds each of rock salt and magnesium chloride will be needed. Labor is estimated to run one to three hours per storm.
• Name Andrea Anderson, Sandy Arnold, and Humphrey Malama to three-year terms on the Mental Health/Intellectual Disabilities/Early Intervention Board and accepted the resignations of Jonathan Johnson and Shirley Sowizral. There are currently six vacancies on the board.
• Reappoint Lynn Appleby, Myerstown, and Patricia Vincent, Annville, to the Lebanon County Commission on Drug & Alcohol Abuse. Their terms expire on Feb. 19, 2029.
• Reappoint Rich Raiders of Annville to the Annville Free Library board and Donald Kline of Hershey to the Palmyra Public Library board. Both terms expire on Dec. 31, 2028.  
• Pay an invoice for $460 for a charcuterie tray for an America250 event at the Lebanon County Historical Society.
• Switch the Area Agency on Aging’s bank account from Fulton Bank to First Citizens Bank. The move was made to change from getting no interest on the account to 2% interest on monies held by the new financial institution.
• Conditionally approve to receive $500 a month from Air Methods to lease space on one of the Department of Emergency Services’ (DES) towers. 
• Approve a three-year agreement with IWG Tower Assets LLC for one they own in Mill Creek Township for a DES lease, retroactive to Oct. 1, 2025. Since October 2022, the county has rented space monthly at a cost of $2,436.12.83. The new agreement includes an increase of $365.71, to $2,801.83, with an annual 5% increase in the rental agreement amount beginning Oct. 1, 2026, and each year thereafter.
• Sign an agreement to collect the North Annville Township fire protection tax.
• Provide real estate tax exemptions to five fully disabled veterans or their families.
• Accept the treasurer’s report with a beginning cash balance of $857,160.18, receipts of $1,312,618.83, and a total cash balance of $2,169,779.01. Less expenditures of $1,466,901.81 and a tax claim of $167,440.55 leaves a balance of $535,436.65.
• Provide hotel tax grant funding for four applicants: Spinstock Flow Arts Association’s Spinstock Flow Arts Festival, $5,000 requested, $2,500 approved; Lancaster Kennel Club’s annual Red Rose Classic and Rally Trials, $5,000 requested and approved; Music at Gretna’s 2026 Summer Concert Series, $5,000 requested and approved; Drunken Smithy’s Forged Fantasy Faerie Festival 2026, $5,000 requested and approved.   
• Grant personnel transactions as presented by the director of Human Resources.
• Issue a proclamation honoring Scouts BSA Week for Feb. 2-6.  
• Approve the minutes of their Jan. 14 workshop and Jan. 15 meeting.

Lebanon County Commissioners meet the first and third Thursday of the month at 9:30 a.m. in Room 207 of the county municipal building, 400 S. 8th St., Lebanon. The next regularly scheduled meeting is on Thursday, Feb. 19.

Lebanon County Assessment Board

Following the meeting, commissioners reconvened as the county assessment board to consider two exemption requests. 

The board unanimously approved both requests as submitted by a nonprofit organization and municipal government.

The board agreed to provide four exemptions for properties owned by the nonprofit Excentia Human Services of Lancaster. Exemptions include their office at 410 Cumberland St. and three city homes they operate at 169 Wheatstone Lane, 25 E. Maple St., and 607 N. Ninth Ave.

The second exemption is for 2.5 acres owned by Swatara Township adjacent to the township building. Township officials use the space for storage and there’s a plan to construct township offices on the parcel.