`County will help with town expenses`

By Hal Johnson
Herald Writer

Mercer borough workers maintain streets and the town police patrol streets around the county courthouse, jail, domestic relations office and other county properties. But the county is exempt from paying property taxes and has refused for a long time to contribute instead of taxes. That is, until now.

Mercer County commissioners are expected today to approve contributing $2,500 to the borough. In past years, the county has refused the borough’s request for contributions, saying it was not obligated to contribute to any tax-supported municipality.

However, during an agenda meeting Wednesday, Commissioner Richard R. Stevenson said, “The county has numerous real estate parcels within the borough. This token contribution indicates our gratitude for the services they (the borough) provide. We know their budget is tight. We have a tight budget, too,” he said.

The county also will contribute $2,000 to the Mercer East End Volunteer Fire Department, said Commissioner Cloyd E. “Gene” Brenneman. Commissioner Olivia M. Lazor said she didn’t see that as a contribution to the volunteer fire department, but a payment as necessary as insurance. A third of all properties in Mercer are tax exempt and the bulk of tax-exempt properties are owned by the county, said Debbie Scrucci, borough secretary.

Last year, the borough revived the practice of asking owners of tax-exempt properties for contributions instead of taxes. In 1999, the borough received $3,820 in contributions from churches, Mercer County Housing Authority and Mercer Veterans of Foreign Wars, but nothing from the county.

Each mill of property tax brings in $5,517 for the borough. When drafting the 2000 budget, the borough secretary said she estimated contributions to be the same as in 1999. Mercer council imposed a 5-mill hike in property taxes when it recently adopted its $614,068 budget for 2000. It set property taxes at 39 mills. It was the borough’s first tax hike in about 10 years, Ms. Scrucci said.

Wages and benefits for borough employees were cited as the main reason for the 9 percent spending increase over 1999.

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