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December 4, 2007

Commissioners propose budget with no tax increase

By MaryAlice Meli

The Lawrence County commissioners introduced the 2008 budget yesterday that keeps the property tax the same.

The proposed $23,976,187 spending package includes an increase of about 6.9 percent over this year’s plan or about $1.6 million, according to Jim Gagliano, county administrator. He said this is a balanced budget. A breakdown of the spending will be on display at the courthouse for 20 days.

Gagliano said he will look into the possibility of downloading the budget to the county’s web site before the final vote at the 10 a.m. Dec. 20 regular meeting. The web site is www.co.lawrence.pa.us.

County assessor J.R. Hardester said tax income is up by 8 percent, including collection on delinquencies and $52.2 million in new assessments which means about $250,000 more in revenue for the county. Hardester said the county receives about $5,300 in tax revenue for every $1 million.

The property tax will remain at 5.313 mills.

Hardester said that in each of the last three years the county has added $50 million in newly assessed properties. This year alone, he said, the county picked up $6 million in new construction thanks to software the commissioners purchased for his office in January.

Gagliano said the county has a 94 percent collection rate on all taxable properties.

He said the budget-making process began in August with department heads projecting what they will need for next year. He said that he, the commissioners, the controller’s office and accountant David Kennaday asked the department heads to justify their proposed expenditures and then decided how much the departments needed to get by. The department heads were then allowed to question and respond to those decisions.

The areas with spending increases, he said, include union contractual wage raises of 3.5 percent, which will also apply to non-union and administrative personnel. Other items are utilities, the pension fund and outside agencies such as the agriculture extension service, the conservation district, New Castle Transit Authority and the Tourist Promotion Agency.

One property that won’t be on the county tax rolls, Hardester said, is the Shenango Presbyterian Home, a private non-profit continued care rehabilitation center in New Wilmington. He said the home provides apartments, assisted living and nursing home care.

The home had requested tax exempt status after paying $240,000 since 2002, Hardester said, and appealed the county’s denial of its request. After the state Supreme Court found in favor of tax exempt status for a nursing home in eastern Pennsylvania, county attorneys recommended working toward a settlement, he said.

Hardester said the home agreed to annually pay 10 percent of its $83,000 tax bill to the New Wilmington Area School District and 10 percent of its $37,000 tax bill to the county.

Neither the school district nor the county will refund any of the $240,000 the home has paid, but will deduct what the home owes each year from those back taxes until the sum reaches zero.

The home does not owe New Wilmington anything since the borough does not levy a property tax.

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