Sharon council gives first reading to tax increase

The mayor says the budget has a shortfall of $380,000 without the tax increase.

STAFF REPORT

SHARON, Pa. — City council passed a proposed 2009 budget that includes a 4-mill property tax increase.

Council voted 3-2 on the measure Thursday, meaning the budget passed first reading. A second reading will be set for sometime in December.

Meanwhile, there will be two public hearings on the $7.65 million budget, proposed by Mayor Bob Lucas. They are at 4:30 p.m. Nov. 26 and Dec. 8 in council chambers at the city building.

Voting against the proposal were council members Bob Messina and Frank Connelly.

“It’s tough economic times,” Messina said. “We should look at the budget a little bit better. I see a lot of my friends leaving because of the tax rate.”

Connelly said he wanted more time to look at expenses in the police and fire departments and still had other questions.

The proposed budget would raise a homeowner’s property tax by 10 percent.

Al Schreckenghost, who lives on Wengler Avenue, complained his road is in poor shape.

“Taxes keep going up, but the services aren’t there,” he said. “Sooner or later, I’m gonna give you my house because I can’t afford it.”

Councilman Victor Heutsche said that taxes haven’t always been climbing. “We lowered real estate taxes four or five years ago,” he said.

He also said council and the mayor plan to work hard to reduce the proposed millage increase before the budget’s final passage.

“We got by with no tax increase for the last five years, but costs are going up,” he said.

Lucas has explained in a letter to council that there is a $380,000 shortfall in the budget without the tax increase.

The city is losing $200,000 in revenue because it will no longer administer the sewer system.

That duty is being handed over to the previously inactive Sharon Sewer Authority next year.

The state is also reducing its aid to the municipal pension by $56,000, and the city’s pension contribution for employees who aren’t police or firefighters has increased by $124,000.

The budget plan and the mayor’s letter are on www.cityofsharon.net.