LH Council Passes Proposed No-Tax-Increase 2020 Budget
By Scott Johnson
LOCK HAVEN – City Council unanimously passed a $13.3-million proposed budget for 2020 with an accompanying no-tax increase ordinance for next year that keeps the same split-tier tax structure at its meeting Monday night in City Hall.
Votes on both items were 6-0 with Mayor Bill Baney was not present. Council vice-president Joel Long presided over the meeting.
The proposed budget will be placed on the city’s Website and available in print form in the city manager’s office.
Adoption of the 2020 budget ordinance is slated for Dec. 16, with public budget hearings and departments’ budgets work scheduled for Dec. 2 and Dec. 9.
According to a summary of the proposed budget from City Manager Greg Wilson, the city will use just over $100,000 from its general fund reserves, giving the city a balance of $354,000.
It stated overall real estate taxes were reduced by 0.3 percent in 2019, but development of the $4.5 million Lucky 7 Travel Plaza and $8.5 million for the new Geisinger Medical Clinic was noted. The proposed budget also anticipates UPMC (Lock Haven Hospital) will prevail in achieving tax-exempt status, causing a loss of $72,000 in taxes.
Specifically, the funds in the proposed budget are:
n General Fund: $5.82 million
n Water Fund: $2.27 million
n Sewer Fund: $4.21 million
n Airport Fund: $274,000
n Liquid Fuels Fund: $694,000.
Regarding the proposed tax ordinance, Wilson noted Lock Haven is one of 16 municipalities of the roughly 2,300 municipalities in the Commonwealth to have a split-tier taxing structure with vacant land (26.32 mills) and buildings/improvements (5.4 mills) taxed at different levels.
“The intention of the split-tier is to incentivize land owners to build on vacant land,” Wilson said.
He then also presented council with a middle-tier structure (17.63 and 7.25 mills) and a one-tier tax structure (9.1 mills for each dollar of assessed valuation.)
Council member Richard Morris said before he joined council, he thought the two-tiered structure was a regressive tax. Now, while on council, he now supports it. “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it,” he said. “I think the cure is worse than the disease.”
The current tier structure was unanimously approved. After the vote, Wilson noted the proposed tax-exempt filing would create a $73,000 loss, while a single rate would have cost the city $110,000.
In other business, Wilson said the work to repair the hole on the Tidlow Dam is complete.
“During the process, fewer repairs to the crest of the dam were required resulting in savings that enabled two additional holes in the structure to be repaired,” he said.
Further, Wilson said, while the water level was down, engineers from Gwin Dobson & Foreman identified damage to the concrete work where the Tidlow Dam intersects with the levee.
“The damage undermined the structural integrity of the levee which could be catastrophic if failure caused damage to the levee wall during a flood event,” he said.
That work cost $16,900 and will come from borrowing for levee repairs.
Also, council regretfully and unanimously approved the resignation of City Engineer Jason Dershem, effective Dec. 1, 2019 due to a new job. Wilson and several council members thanked Dershem for his 13-plus years in his current position. “It’s a sad day, but a great for him, but a sad day for us,” Wilson said.”It’s been a pleasure being with the city and I am thankful for all the memories from here. And, thank you… for everything,” Dershem said.
