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Tiny decrease approved for property tax rate

Wednesday, April 03, 2002

By Jeffrey Cohan, Post-Gazette Staff Writer

The Democrat-controlled Allegheny County Council approved a tiny cut in the county's property tax rate last night, pushing a 3-month-old conflict with county Chief Executive Jim Roddey to the brink of resolution.

In one of the busiest meetings in the home rule government's two-year history, council reduced the tax rate from 4.72 mills to 4.69 mills, established a $10,000 homestead exemption for next year, approved an anti-smoking bill and appointed a new member.

Roddey, a Republican, wants a tax rate of 4.56 mills for this year. But council President James Simms, D-Hill District, cautioned last night that vetoing the 4.69-mill rate would only further delay the mailing of the county's tax bills, which normally go out in February.

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"In the spirit of negotiations, everyone has to come halfway," Simms said. "A veto [would be] a resounding note that we're back at gridlock again."

Two Republican council members, Ron Francis of Ben Avon and Jan Rea of McCandless, joined the council's nine Democrats in approving the 4.69-mill rate. Without the support of at least one Republican, the tax rate would have remained at 4.72 mills, because a change requires a two-thirds vote.

Should Roddey veto last night's action, it would take another two-thirds vote for council to override the chief executive and put the 4.69-mill rate in place, meaning either Francis or Rea would again have to side with the Democrats.

Francis put forward the 4.56-mill rate last night, but his motion failed on a party-line vote.

The difference between 4.56 mills and 4.69 mills means $13 for the owner of a $100,000 home.

Democrats favor the higher rate because they want to put the county in a financial position to implement the homestead exemption next year.

Under state law, the county cannot increase its tax rate to compensate for revenue lost in a homestead exemption, which is $10,000 and would save every homeowner $46.90, assuming a 4.69-mill rate.

Democrats structured their legislation last night to link the homestead exemption to the 4.69-mill rate. That way, if Roddey vetoes the exemption, he will automatically be vetoing the tax rate as well.

The legislation also provides that should a 4.69-mill rate yield more than $241 million in property tax revenue this year, the amount in the county's 2002 budget, then the excess would be returned to property owners in the form of refunds or credits.

The tax bills would be based on the 2002 property valuations, except for about 27,000 property owners who would be allowed to keep reductions won in assessment appeals last year.

Also last night, council members voted 11-3 to approve an ordinance that will penalize retailers for selling cigarettes to minors.

Convenience store owners fought aggressively but futilely against the ordinance, complaining that the new law does not punish minors.

"This ordinance is extremely lopsided and unfair," said Charles Muetzel Jr. of the Pennsylvania Petroleum Marketers and Convenience Store Association. "We need some sort of penal remedy that keeps the teen-ager from trying to buy cigarettes in the first place."

But public health advocates hailed the ordinance as an important step toward reducing teen smoking.

"We are supposed to know when our children are smoking and close off those access routes," said Dr. Stephen Thomas, director of the University of Pittsburgh's Center for Minority Health.

Retailers caught selling tobacco to minors four or more times in one year could face fines of up to $2,000 and could lose the right to sell tobacco to anyone for up to six months.

Council members Rick Schwartz, D-Plum, Doug Price, R-Carnegie, and Francis voted against the ordinance.

Council members voted unanimously to appoint James Fenton, a Democrat from Mt. Lebanon, to the vacant seat in council's District 6.

Fenton, the treasurer for Amalgamated Transit Union Local 85, will serve the remaining 21 months in the unexpired term of former Councilman Mike Crossey, another Mt. Lebanon Democrat, who resigned last month.

Council will reconvene at 5 p.m. today to work on redrawing the map of the council's 13 districts.