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Tuesday, November 28, 2000
By Diana Nelson Jones, Post-Gazette Staff Writer
Of Pennsylvania's 52 Appalachian counties, only Allegheny has officially won its war on poverty.
Three counties, considered "competitive" by the Appalachian Regional Commission, are close on its heels, including Butler.
Forty-six are in "transition," lagging below national averages in two of three criteria -- rates of poverty, unemployment and per-capita income -- but moving upward.
And then there were two.
For almost 20 years, Fayette and Greene have run neck-and-neck for the dubious honor of being next to last in Pennsylvania. They hunker together in the southwest corner of the state as their economic developers cast nets for a future tax base.
Fayette, once home to more multimillionaires per capita than anywhere on earth, is just barely better off than Greene, where more coal is being deep mined than in any county in the nation. With its seat in Waynesburg, Greene County forsees the day when coal -- 35 percent of the tax base, more in some parts of the county -- will be too expensive to extract.
Fayette, which now has a fledgling bus service and the Mon-Fayette expressway in progress, has lagged for decades without a complement to coal. Its mines began playing out in the '60s.
Its flagship city of 12,000 people, Uniontown, has lost almost half its population since 1950; 4,000 since 1980.
For most of the past decade, Fayette officials have looked merely "to stem any further slip downward," said Chris Sepesy, who directs the county Office of Community and Economic Development. "The upgrade of roads, water and sewer has been a Herculean effort here." Just 42 percent of the county has public sewage.
A citizens' group that formed in 1994, Fayette Forward, has just completed a blueprint for land use in the county. Its committees on tourism, the environment, social conditions and marketing, among others, have identified more than 150 projects.
Fayette Forward has answered 183 small-business inquiries, says planning coordinator, Dan Visnauskas. Last year, it helped nine businesses secure $548,000 in public and private financing and create 48 jobs.
Another group, the Fay-Penn Economic Development Council, has worked with local authorities, consultants and engineers to get money for sewers, to buy police cars, to buy respirators for ambulances -- "things we can't take for granted," Sepesy said.
The state also designated enterprise zones -- one type of which allows the county to offer tax-free land for 12 years -- to help it begin competing for light manufacturing and high-tech businesses. One concern is that the state has not provided funding to take the place of taxes the county would not get for 12 years.
Sepesy says tourism may be Fayette's brass ring -- "such hidden fortunes you can't believe," he said, starting a list: "This is where the Whiskey Rebellion was launched. There's Fort Necessity, Fallingwater, and the only other Frank Lloyd Wright house in the commonwealth. And historical Route 40."
He is pushing for a historical properties ordinance and better development of trails and assistance to businesses that cater to bikers, hikers, spelunkers, rafters and climbers.
The biggest threat to Fayette is its population losses, he said. If the 2000 census shows it has fewer than 150,000 people, it could fall from a 4th class county to a 5th class county. "That would lose us representation in federal and state levels, and everything from Social Security to welfare. If we don't have enough people suffering, another place will."
Greene County forged a strategic plan three years ago with help from the Appalachian Regional Commission to attract high-tech and light manufacturing firms. Greene also formed a partnership with the University of Pittsburgh and it set up an outreach office in small-business management and start-up counseling.
Ed Marotta of the Greene County Industrial Development Authority, said most recent new jobs have paid the minimum wage: "service industry and part-time -- Sheetz, Burger King, McDonalds."
And, coal is coming out of the ground in record amounts.
Pennsylvania does not levy a severance tax on coal that is extracted, unlike West Virginia and Kentucky. It taxes only the coal that's in the ground. That means the faster the coal comes out, the faster the drop in the rate of taxation.
In 1998, the Consol and RAG corporations between them extracted 38 million tons, more than triple what was extracted 20 years ago and with half the miners.
"If we weren't able to mine it fast, there would be no mining in Greene County," said Tom Hoffman, a spokesman for Consol. "Then, the impact would be worse. We pay state business tax and payroll taxes, plus there are businesses that exist there because we exist."
He says Consol's reserve base in Greene County is 50 years, while the end of some mines is as imminent as five years, others 20-25. Coal taxes vary from place to place, even within a county, but at the lowest they are 2 percent of the assessed value of the coal.
Most coal-dominated areas did not prepare early enough for the end of coal, and with rural, sparse populations, they have not naturally attracted other businesses.
George Ellis, president of the Pennsylvania Coal Association, says the industry should not be blamed for this: "There is nothing we do that would preclude the infusion of other businesses."
Farley Toothman, a Greene county commissioner, said that if counties were like professional sports teams, Greene would be getting one or two first-round draft choices.
He cites an unjust state system that bases educational funding on real estate taxes. Where properties are valued less, schools get less. Also, he said, "Pennsylvania law says coal is like real estate. When they mine it, its value goes to nothing, just like a house that's torn down. The school districts have to raise millage on surface owners to make up the difference."
When a school district already is considered at or below the level of impoverishment, how will property owners possibly be able to make up the difference? he asked.
Half the people in Greene County's five school districts are just above or just below national poverty guidelines. By comparison, less than 2 percent of Upper St. Clair falls below the line.
"I am not pleased that Greene County is the poorest county in the commonwealth," said Toothman. "The answer to the question, 'What will we do?' is the dearest thing in my work."
Photos by Steve Mellon, Post-Gazette Staff Photographer 
Ben Hale, assistant director for the Kentucky Appalachian Commission, checks out a former strip mine site that's been converted to a regional business park in Perry County. Flat, useable land is coveted in Eastern Kentucky, but the process of removing mountains is controversial. (Steve Mellon, Post-Gazette)Cutline