Callery officials have asked two property owners to help pay for upgrades to the failing Breakneck Street.

CALLERY — Two property owners are being asked to contribute toward upgrades on a failing street, but only one has pledged the money so far.

Dan Dietrich, owner of a tree service, and William Long, whose tenant owns Natural Concrete, have been asked by officials in the cash-strapped borough to pay $5,600 each toward a $22,000 project to upgrade Breakneck Street.

The borough would pay the remaining $11,000.

The street is between Breakneck Creek and Herr-Voss Stamco on the southern end of Callery. Part of Breakneck Street is in neighboring Adams Township.

Ed Conway of the borough council explained at a meeting between all parties on Monday that the seven or eight homeowners on Breakneck Street have been complaining for some time about the condition of the street due to the large trucks from the tree service and concrete company that use it.

He said the borough had an engineering study done, and the study confirmed the large trucks on Breakneck Street are causing damage.

“We run on a very limited budget, not much more than $100,000 per year, and we felt it behooves us to meet with the people who are going to cause this very serious problem for the taxpayers of this borough,” Conway said.

Dietrich said he was glad to pledge the money because his trucks are causing the damage. He added that he does not expect the borough to build a road to accommodate his business.

He advocated adding two inches of new surface now and continuing to add more in the coming years to make the road viable for heavy trucks.

“I will help pay for the asphalt because it will only benefit me down the road,” Dietrich said.

But Long and his attorney, Ed Miller, worried about signing an agreement with the borough that could require them to pay higher amounts in the future to repair the street.

When Callery Police Chief David Watts said the trucks could be cited for being over the road's weight limit, Dietrich warned Long that he could lose Natural Concrete as a tenant if their trucks were repeatedly fined.

Long also asked Gary Peaco, the Adams Township code enforcement officer, and Ron Olsen, Adams' engineer, if the township would help pay for an upgrade on Breakneck Street since part of it lies in the township.

Olsen replied that such a decision would be up to the board of supervisors.

Conway and Callery solicitor Tom Smith gave Long two weeks to decide if he will contribute the $5,600 and sign a contract with the borough.