CENTER TWP — A 20-year, $2 million township loan will be paid off in just 10 years at the end of August.

The Center Township board of supervisors voted unanimously Wednesday night to shift funds around in their budget and pay off the remaining $364,000 balance on the loan which funded the township's municipal building on Henricks Road.

The $2.4 million project required a $2 million loan in 2010.

Through various refinancing options over the past decade, Wednesday's move closed a series of financial steps that spared the municipality about $687,000 in interest payments, according to township secretary Anthony Amendolea.

“That's $687,000 we don't have to pay,” said Ron Flatt, board chairman.

The $364,000 payment finishing off the loan requires about $165,000 from the general fund. The remainder are debt services dollars.

The building is at 150 Henricks Road. It houses township staff, public works equipment and an office for state Rep. Tedd Nesbit, R-8th.

VA water

The township's engineer, David Heath of Gateway Engineers, said he and the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection have received plans for revisions to the stormwater drainage system at the Abie Abraham VA Butler Health Care Center. The plans come from Cambridge Healthcare and its engineers at Stantech.

Cambridge executives have said they are working to fix drainage issues as quickly as possible.

The clinic, which opened in 2017, had unintended runoff consequences for neighboring property owners who sold land for its construction.

Heath's understanding is that the DEP plans to make an official determination on the new plans within a few weeks.

“Their schedule has corrections done this calendar year,” Heath said. “For that to work, this has to be done soon.”

The plans, as they were submitted, reroute water that spills out onto neighboring properties through a pipe across and along North Duffy Road.

The new plans don't reduce the “footprint” of retention ponds on the site, Heath said.

Flatt said he recently met with county economic development officials during which the drainage problems were discussed in depth.

Land across the road is being developed as housing, and more land in the area affected by drainage problems is eyed for future development as well.