A Blair Township supervisor’s proposal to advertise an ordinance that would have authorized the municipality to impose a licensing fee for skill game machines in local businesses died Tuesday for lack of a second.

Jacob Wible suggested the ordinance as a hedge against the eventual possibility the township would need to increase property taxes, given its operational deficit of $127,000 — although with a fund balance of $2 million, such an increase is likely far from imminent, he conceded.

There was opposition from a couple of business owners, including Mikhail Castillo, who wrote a letter to the editor of the Mirror expressing that opposition, and who had a version of that letter read at the meeting by the township secretary.

The letter included criticism that Wible’s proposal violated campaign assurances that he was not in favor of raising taxes.

Another business owner present at the meeting asked Wible about the size of the fee, if the measure were passed.

Wible said the ordinance wouldn’t set the fee, but just provide the framework for imposing it, and that the supervisors each year would set the amount per machine.

That second businessman, who said he has several stores in the area, said the $100 charged by Altoona or the $50 charged by Saint Marys isn’t a problem — but something like $2,500, for example, would make things difficult, especially for newer entrepreneurs.

The average annual revenue for a skills machine in Pennsylvania is $58,000, said one meeting attendee — a figure confirmed by an online source.

One consideration for Blair Township would be the state’s plans for a skills machine tax of 52% of revenue earned, said Supervisor Paul Amigh.

If the state should impose such a tax, all local fees and taxes would go away, Amigh said.

“So we would make 12 to 15 businesses angry to collect maybe $5,000 tops for half a year, until the state implements its tax,” Amigh said, explaining his decision not to support Wible’s proposal.

Supervisor Brad Germaux likewise declined to support it.

Mirror Staff Writer William Kibler is at 814-949-7038.