Forget New York. Macy’s Department Store should hold its Thanksgiving Day parade in Lower Pottsgrove. The parade permit here costs only $10, rain or shine

SANATOGA PA – Even if it rains on your parade, holding the parade itself will cost you $10 in Lower Pottsgrove.

The payment for conducting a “parade or motorcade” anywhere within the township appears on page 10 of a 12-page Fees, Deposits and Escrows schedule approved earlier this month (Jan. 7, 2013) by the Board of Commissioners.

The schedule, which represents a detailed list of items for which the municipality charges businesses, organizations or individuals in executing its public duties, usually is approved with the coming year’s budget every December. Approval of the 2013 list was temporarily delayed while Solicitor R. Kurtz Holloway conducted research on Lower Pottsgrove practice of registering certain contractors.

Most of this year’s fees are unchanged from last year, Manager Rodney Hawthorne said.

Many on the schedule are collected for labor-intensive work that accompanies construction of a home or other buildings: plan reviews; inspecting plumbing, mechanical and electrical installations; obtaining zoning permits or zoning reviews, and a broad range of costs associated with opening a housing community, such as a subdivision or other land development.

If you were the developer of a $5 million commercial project, for example, you’d be charged $1,500 just to have your plans reviewed, according to the list. By the way, if you are a developer and hope to create such a project, board members surely would like to meet you. Soon.

The schedule has an impact too, albeit a lesser one, on things township residents might occasionally do. Want to obtain a copy of an accident report from the police department? It’s $15. Or if you’re a business owner who requires employees to be fingerprinted, the department charges $10 per person.

Maybe you’re putting up a sign to announce a civic event. That’ll cost you $100 per sign, but apparently it represents only a deposit; you’ll get the money back once the sign is removed. Other temporary signs also cost $100, and that money the township keeps; you’re still expected to remove the sign.

Will your civic event be held at a township park? Depending on the size of the crowd it attracts, and how long it stays there, the starting costs to township residents for renting park facilities run from $30 to $100 for four hours. Out-of-towners pay about twice that.

Does your business sell door-to-door? If on foot, the fee for your first employee is $75 a year, the list states, and $25 annually for each additional employee. Putting your wares in a vehicle and driving them around will cost $100 per vehicle annually.

The fee schedule has its bargains as well. Black-and-white photocopies obtained from the township offices cost only 25 cents per page.

Related (to the Lower Pottsgrove Board of Commissioners’ Jan. 7 meeting):

• A Dollar Here, $100 There: Lower Pottsgrove Fees Add Up
• No Refund Due; Hurricane Sandy Here Not Bad Enough
• Mascaro: Don’t Leave Electronics At Curbside As Trash
• Garbage Contractor Letter On Commissioners’ Agenda

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