Mercer Co. expects 400 foreclosures in ‘08
Crisis concerns Mercer Co. official
One commissioner said the county’s pension funds ‘appear to be OK.’
MERCER, Pa. — The county needs to be ready for the fallout from the current financial crisis, Prothonotary Elizabeth Fair told Mercer County commissioners.
She said her office has handled 340 mortgage foreclosure actions so far this year and she expects that figure to reach 400 by the end of the year. There were a combined total of 800 foreclosures in 2006 and 2007, compared with just 46 in 1994, she said.
In addition, Fair said that civil filings on defaulted credit cards have doubled in the last two years.
One place she said the mortgage crisis will impact locally is in the revenues from the real estate transfer taxes that decline as fewer homes are sold and those that sell are sold for less than previously. The transfer tax, which is a percentage charge on the sale price of the home, returns 1 percent to the state and a half-percent each to the local school and municipality.
Fiscal Director John Logan said after the meeting that county government will likely first feel the impact of economic problems in falling interest rates in the limited areas where the county is allowed to invest money and, if money tightens, the county may find it impossible to finance large projects. He said the biggest concern is that the federal government has to fix the liquidity crunch. “If Congress doesn’t fix it, then capital dries up,” he said.
“We will have to be more careful about our costs,” he said. But he added that the county has a “high and strong” A Stable credit rating from Standard and Poor and the county’s bonds are insured by FSA, one of the two bond insurers that did not go under in July when several others did.
Commissioner Brian Beader commented during the meeting that commissioners are “painfully aware” of financial problems as they begin budgeting for 2009. He said the county’s pension funds “appear to be OK.”
Also Thursday,
UCommissioners approved applying for a 904 state Municipal Recycling Performance Grant for 2007 from the State Department of Environmental Protection. The county will likely get about $30,000, according to Dan Gracenin, executive director of the Mercer County Regional Planning Commission. The money is based on the amount recycled in the county in 2007 and helps to pay for the local program.
UThey entered an agreement with the Children’s Aid Society, 350 W. Market St., Mercer, to provide family profile assessments, licensure and training through June 30, 2009, at the cost of $2,500 per home study. County funds will only be used after Statewide Adoption Network money is expended.
URenick Brothers Construction Co. of Slippery Rock was awarded a $22,470 contract to replace and upgrade the control system for heating and air conditioning in a part of the courthouse. Renick was the only bidder.
UAnd they hired Sauer Snow Plowing, Harrisville, for mowing and snow removal at the new Mercer County District Justice Building at 574 Barkeyville Road, Grove City. Rates vary from from $55 to plow the lot and $165 to cut the field and lawn area to $45 to salt the lot and $20 for each shoveling and each salting of walks, including the cost of salt. The agreement will renew each year unless either party objects.