Tax collectors’ fee
In regards to Fayette County’s tax collection system, I would like to commend the Herald-Standard for its editorial and reporting on the compensation our 39 tax collectors receive. Commissioners Angela Zimmerlink and Vince Vicites are also to be commended for putting this issue on the agenda at the next commissioner’s meeting. Fayette County is one of the poorest counties in the state, but has the highest commission rate of 3.5 percent it pays the tax collectors. As a resident of South Union Township, the current tax collector, Mr. Conway, told me when he was campaigning for office that the system was flawed, and if elected, he would try to correct it. Since he’s been in office and getting the big bucks, collecting the largest salary of all tax collectors, he seems to think the system is OK. Well, the system is not OK, and county government and the taxpayers are getting ripped off. The time is now to change the compensation our tax collectors receive.
The county commissioners have the opportunity to change the way taxes are collected or reduce the commission amount paid to our tax collectors.
The window to change the system will close in February, or we will have to wait four more years to try again.
In future commissioner meetings we will see who has the fortitude to change the unfair, flawed system.
As for the tax collectors, if they don’t like the new system, they can resign and get a real job.
Also, maybe our third commissioner could stay to the end of the meetings, which is part of the job he was elected to do.
Fred Gergely
Uniontown
Sentenced to an essay
A recent story said that District Justice William Pelkey reportedly had a blood-alcohol level nearly twice the legal limit when a trooper stopped him on Interstate 81 in Cumberland County, and that Pelkey was charged with driving under the influence.
After reading that article, I had to laugh at what a positive role model our district justice is. Several students, including myself, recently received disorderly conduct charges for a typical off-campus college party at California University of Pennsylvania. We were instructed by Pelkey to write a 10-page paper on the negative effects of underage drinking and driving while intoxicated.
The information I stressed most was the highway fatalities caused by drunken drivers behind the wheel. If it turns out that the charges against Pelkey are true, I hope the papers that my friends and I wrote will be a positive influence in his life. Maybe, as we did, he would refrain from such activities in the future.
The choice to get behind the wheel while intoxicated is irresponsible.
Crystal Smith
California