Point Marion council increases taxes by 0.5 mill
POINT MARION — Council adopted a balanced budget for 2015 on Wednesday reflecting an increase in taxes and water rates necessitated by the rising costs of healthcare insurance and utilities.
By unanimous vote, council raised the mill rate from 3 to 3.5, meaning that property owners will see a $2.08 increase in taxes per month on a $50,000 property. Currently, property owners pay about $12.50 per month.
Officials have said the increases are necessary, and no changes were made to a tentative 2015 budget approved by council last month and advertized by 30 days, as required by law.
The budget, which reflects $289,675 in revenues and expenditures, was not an easy budget to prepare, said borough Manager and Secretary Art Strimel, citing increases in the cost of borough employee healthcare and utilities, and the cost of water treatment chemicals as a major contributing factor in having to raise taxes and rates.
The borough held off on raising water rates last year to determine how unknowns would factor in after the completion of a major waterline replacement project, he said, but this year, residents will see an increase of 60 cents per 1,000 gallons used, meaning that the average household that uses 3,000 gallons will see an increase of $1.80 per month in their water bills.
Borough laborers received a moderate increase in wages, but the rising cost of hospitalization insurance — an additional $100 per month — is the main driving factor behind having to raise taxes, according to Strimel.
The budget includes $1,200 for public safety, which Strimel said will be used to contract animal control services, mandated with the closure of the Fayette County Society for the Protection of Cruelty to Animals, and also includes $91,520 for the renewal of a contract with the Southwest Regional Police Department (SWRPD). The new contract accounts for a $5-per-hour increase from $50 per hour for police protection to $55. Currently, the borough contracts about 32 hours of police protection per week.
Increases in liability insurance rates forced the borough to shutter its own police department last year following the settlement of two back-to-back lawsuits alleging civil rights violations. Insurance rates for the former borough police department had remained steady at about $2,000 a year, but following the lawsuits, those rates rose to $30,000 a year, officials have said. The regional police department, which the borough contracted with to provide police protection earlier this year, carries its own insurance.
In presenting the most recent police report Wednesday, Strimel pointed out that when the borough maintained its own police department, borough police averaged about 1,000 miles per month on the borough police cruiser. Last month, officers with SWRPD clocked 554 miles on the borough police cruiser, driving nearly half as many miles while responding to more calls than were logged by the previous police department.
Strimel also pointed out that of the 16 traffic stops made last month, officers with the regional police department issued seven citations and nine warnings.
“A lot of people say they are too heavy handed on giving tickets, but this proves otherwise,” Strimel said.
Borough officials have said they plan to renew the contract with SWRPD in April.
In other business, officials announced that council will continue to meet in 2015 at the borough building at 7 p.m. on the first and third Wednesdays of each month.