Cost of failed shift goes to citizens


MERCER, Pa. — County taxpayers will ultimately pay the bill for most of the costs of implementing the failed Act I property tax shift.

That ballot issue, which was defeated in every Mercer County school district and in all but four of the state’s school districts in last month’s primary election, would have shifted some of the school property tax burden away from lower income homeowners to higher income wage earners.

Mercer County commissioners said Tuesday they have learned they will receive $28,867 from the Pennsylvania Department of Community and Economic Development to reimburse the county for some of the thousands of employee hours it took to prepare Homestead Exemption paperwork for those who qualified.

But Mercer County Tax Collector Michael DeForest said the actual costs the county incurred “far exceeded” that amount — although he did not have a figure for the actual cost.

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