Taxes, trails and Trump: Fayette commissioners raise taxes
Editors Note: This article was changed on Dec. 20 to correct the name of Charles Brant.
Emotions ran high Thursday, as residents filled the conference room inside the Gallatin Building in downtown Uniontown to listen as the Fayette County commissioners voted 2-1 to raise taxes.
Many of the residents that spoke, including Charles Brant of German Township, expressed concerns about how those on a fixed income would be able to afford a 1.7 millage increase.
“My pension is $2,200 a month plus my social security,” Brant said. “You’re pushing people out of Fayette County.”
The tax hike will balance the county’s $54,066,008 budget. The millage increase equates to $170 in taxes per $100,000 in assessed property value.
Immediately after the budget vote, “boos” poured out while several residents approached the commissioners at the table with profanity laden jaunts of “You’re fired” and “We’re voting you out.”
Commissioners Vincent Vicites and Scott Dunn voted in favor of the budget. Commissioner Dave Lohr voted against the spending plan stating he did not want to see tax dollars go toward “luxury” items, like bike trails, and said that instead the county should be focusing on residents who could be without water due to this year’s drought.
“There’s a lot of people as of today that don’t have water,” Lohr said. “I’ve been on the trails. They’re nice, but a necessity of life is water, and I would rather concentrate (tax money) into water and even broadband. I feel that way and that’s my gut feeling.”
Dunn called the budget “bare bones,” stating the county was not immune to inflation and said other counties across the state have also needed to raise taxes.
“Counties of all types – rural, suburban, urban, Republican and Democrats – are in the same boat as Fayette County,” Dunn said.
The vote came after a nearly 2-hour long public comment session where over 20 residents urged commissioners to not raise the taxes.
Melanie Patterson of Washington Township, who brought a grinch-sign that focused on Dunn and Vicites, cited the county’s overall voting support for the President-elect Donald Trump as a reason why taxes should not go up in Fayette County.
“Both Democrats, Republicans and independents voted for Donald Trump and the MAGA agenda which is … to reduce and eliminate taxes with the ultimate goal of keeping more of our money and putting money back into the pockets of hard working Americans where it belongs in the first place,” Patterson said, her sentiment echoed by several others speakers.
State Rep. Charity Grimm Krupa garnered cheers during her public comment. The Smithfield Republican took the commissioners to task, citing that “you cannot tax your way into prosperity.”
“Families here grapple with the rising cost of food, utilities, gasoline and basic necessities to add to their buren,” she said. “(Raising taxes is) not just unjust, it’s out of touch with reality.”
Krupa, who spoke third, set her sights on the county’s investment in trails, which was one of Lohr’s major objections to the tax hike.
“We need to focus on critical needs like drinking water, reliable swerve systems or basic infrastructure,” she said. “Your top priority has seemed to be acquiring real estate that no private investors would touch, constructing a convenient but totally unnecessary tunnel, and building a recreational bike trail…Those don’t reflect the immediate pressing needs of our residents nor do they reflect a modest budget.”
And while every person that spoke appeared to be against raising taxes, trails – most notably the Sheepskin Trail – was a point of contention among commenters. Some defended the county’s investment, while others criticized it.
Dunn and Vicites each said the Sheepskin Trail would have an estimated impact of about $27 million annually. Dunn said the budget did not include any money dedicated to the Sheepskin Trail, but acknowledged it included $516,000 in matching funds that would go toward walking trails in Mill Run and Dunlap Creek.
Some residents, such as Geno Gallo of Connellsville, questioned whether trails would do any good if the tax rate scares people away from moving to Fayette County.
“You’re trying to design a county for people that aren’t here yet,” Gallon said. “We have a shrinking population that’s been shrinking for the last 50 years.”