County Council Approves 1 Mill Tax Rate Increase (Washington, Butler: home, property tax rates)

[alleghenyangel]

Originally Posted by SteelCityRising

Yep. Why stay and fight to improve the quality-of-life in your county when you can just "hop the border", so to speak, and further exacerbate our area's urban sprawl epidemic?

Yeah, if I lived in Cranberry, not only would I be taxed less, but I wouldn't have to see beautiful historic buildings sit vacant and deteriorate until the point that they had to be torn down.

http://historicpittsburgh.blogspot.c...g-of-week.html

[ML North]

Originally Posted by Debbie1125

I agree and it's a real shame how politicians use these vulnerable groups for their own means and to get the sympathy of the public.

I'm sure Pittsburgh's city council is similar to the one where I live. Bloated salaries, perks that include cars and gasoline billed to the taxpayers. Council also has a program here called DROP. It's a pension that allows council members to retire for as little as one day, then come back to work at their regular salary plus receive the pension amount. Efforts to get rid of this very generous perk have NOT worked so far.

Pittsburgh City Council members are paid $50,000. I'm not sure about the other benefits, but all things considered, I don't think many people would take that job for its financial rewards.

[alleghenyangel]

Originally Posted by hornet67

I thought that $8 million was for Saks Fifth Ave,. but your point is well taken, sad to say.

Macy's is next.

[Geeo]

I think people here may be mixing up the city and the county in this discussion. The county property tax rate is increasing. Of course it will affect city residents as well, but this was not a decision of the Pittsburgh City Council - it was Allegheny County Council.

[ML North]

Originally Posted by Geeo

I think people here may be mixing up the city and the county in this discussion. The county property tax rate is increasing. Of course it will affect city residents as well, but this was not a decision of the Pittsburgh City Council - it was Allegheny County Council.

Yes, indeed. Just to clarify, I was referring to Pittsburgh City Council. Whether the the person to which I was responding actually meant City Council, I don't know.

[BrianTH]

Originally Posted by UKyank

It's always child, seniors, & education funding that is in danger of getting cut unless taxes are raised, why? Because its easiest to point to & have people emotionally support. Is there really no other cuts that could be first considered before axing child, senior & education services from the budget? I call BS on that.

I believe those are references to actual cuts in the non-increase budget proposal (made by Onorato in October).

I'm not going to claim to be an expert on the County budget, but I do think people making the "they could cut something else" argument have the burden of actually identifying that "something else". You can get the relevant documents here if you want to take on that task:

2012 Fiscal Plan

[BrianTH]

Originally Posted by Debbie1125

I agree and it's a real shame how politicians use these vulnerable groups for their own means and to get the sympathy of the public.

Have you taken a look at the County's budget?

Health and welfare is almost half of their operating budget. When the state cuts its funding contribution to the County by such a large amount, it is to be expected that categories like that will take big hits, unless the County comes up with new revenues to replace that state funding.

[BrianTH]

It is occurring to me people may not be aware of the basic facts here.

Without the rate increase, the County would have about $37 million less in revenue in 2012 versus 2011. About $29 million of that is because of cuts in state funding. About $17.5 million of the cuts in state funding is for children and family services.

I'm just noting this so people understand the fact of the cuts and where they were allocated didn't just come out of the blue.

[h_curtis]

How about cutting the fat instead of raising our taxes even more than they already are? This is some kind of joke and I don't blame people for moving out of this area as they have been doing. Cranberry is booming for a reason. Washington County is doing well. Westmorland County is another one. You can't keep raising taxes for failed promises. I think I am switching parties to the big R next time around. Even though I can't stand the GOP.

[bradjl2009]

Originally Posted by h_curtis

It does indeed hurt the area. More taxes usually just mean more waste. It is a sad state of affairs. Of course property values suffer more and more due to these increases, so you sort of get stuck in Pittsburgh, because you can't move out of here. These high taxes just crush real estate growth.

Then there are the assessment figures which will come out this month in the city and those will surely go up for most people which will lead them to pay more in taxes.