Board to discuss tax referendum

MERCER, Pa. -- Ballot language for a new tax referendum will be the focus of a meeting of the Mercer County board of elections Monday.
The board will consider language for the referendum that will allow voters to decide on the proposed Taxpayer Relief Act. If approved, the schools could increase earned income taxes in exchange for lower property taxes.
The board will meet at 9 a.m. in the commissioners' conference room on the first level of the county courthouse.
They will be looking at the wording of the referendum and wording of nonlegal explanations to be posted at each polling place.
School boards were given several options under the legislation, but every district in the county has chosen to consider the first option under the act, the additional earned income tax, according to Mercer County Elections Director Jeff Greenburg.
The law provides that all school districts, except Philadelphia, Pittsburgh and Scranton, must give voters the opportunity to raise the local Earned Income and Net Profits Tax or switch to a Personal Income Tax in the May 2007 primary election in order to raise revenue to fund local property tax relief.