When the Mt. Lebanon commissioners sit down for what is hoped to be their final budget discussion Monday night, they will face tough choices about laying off employees and raising taxes.

According to Commissioner David Humphreys, they might have to do both to balance the $38.5 million spending plan for 2006.

Municipal Manager Stephen Feller and Assistant Manager Marcia Taylor have told commissioners they could avoid the layoffs of a police officer and the entire staff of the local 911 dispatch center by raising real estate taxes by 0.3 mills, and removing an additional $500,000 for the road program from the capital operating budget and adding it to a bond issue which is expected to be floated in 2006.

That tax increase would set the millage rate at 4.87 mills and cost the owner of a $200,000 home about $60 a year.

That's an option that Commissioner Dale Colby would like to see the commissioners approve.

But Mr. Humphreys said he opposed putting money for the annual road project in a bond issue.

"Road projects come up too often to be in a bond issue," he said. "That's what happened in the city of Pittsburgh. They put too much into their capital fund and then that comes back to haunt you in the future with high debt payments."

Mr. Feller and Ms. Taylor said some budget gaps could be filled by an unexpected savings of about $200,000 in health insurance premiums for 2006 and about $130,000 in reductions they've made from a variety of programs.

Mr. Humphreys said those funds could be put to better use, such as further reducing the amount of money put into the bond issue.

When Mr. Feller presented his proposed budget Nov. 1, it included one layoff, that of the communications director of the South Hills Regional Dispatch Center, in Mt. Lebanon, at a savings of $120,000. But it kept intact the rest of the center's staff of eight full-time and two part-time employees.

To close the gap caused by increased costs in the 2006 budget, Mr. Feller proposed a 0.1 percent earned income tax increase, which would have generated about $984,000, though only $787,000 would come before 2007 because of filing deadlines.

Since then, two factors have significantly affected discussions.

The first is that commissioners rejected the idea of an earned income tax increase because it would make Mt. Lebanon's EIT rate one of the highest in the area and commissioners feared it would dissuade people from moving into the municipality, Mr. Humphreys said.

The second was County Council's approval of rolling back real estate assessments throughout the county to 2002 levels. That action occurred in October, shortly before Mr. Feller presented his proposed budget, which was based on a 5 percent increase in real estate tax revenue.

Rolling back the assessed values will cause real estate tax revenue to come in $437,000 under what Mr. Feller had projected.

In addition, it is estimated to bring another $266,000 reduction after tax appeals by recent home buyers whose assessments had been appealed by the municipality because their assessments were significantly lower than the sales prices of their homes.

Mt. Lebanon appealed about 800 of those properties in recent years.

At a budget workshop Nov. 29, commissioners came up with the idea of laying off a crime prevention officer from the police department at a savings of $112,000. But if a layoff occurs in the police department, it must be the officer with the least seniority. The department has 44 fulltime officers.

Chief Thomas Ogden said he had notified the department's most recently hired officer, who has been with the department for about 15 months, that he is likely to be laid off as of Dec. 31. But because he is newly hired, the savings from the layoff will be about $88,000, Mr. Humphreys and Mr. Feller said.

Mr. Feller's proposed budget included $539,830 for the operation of the 911 dispatch center.

Closing it would save the municipality about $60,000 in 2006, however, because of the cost of severance payments and unemployment compensation for employees and the fact that the turnover to a local police dispatch center probably would take at least until April.

By 2007, the municipality could save as much as $370,000 by shutting down the regional dispatch center, Mr. Humphreys said.

The center once answered all 911 calls for many South Hills communities, but the county closed its regional centers and is fielding those calls at its Point Breeze operations center. Since July, Mt. Lebanon's 911 center has handled only the dispatch duties for several local entities, including fire, police and ambulance services.

Mt. Lebanon officials had hoped to keep it open, in part, to handle such duties as monitoring home alarms and fielding important calls 24 hours a day. Mr. Colby still would like to see that happen.

Mr. Humphreys, however, said he believed a local dispatch could be set up within the police department to handle those calls.

At the Nov. 29 budget session, Mr. Humphreys and Commissioners Ty Ely and Barbara Logan supported the layoffs of a police officer and the 911 staff, according to Mr. Humphreys. Mr. Ely and Mrs. Logan did not attend Monday's budget session and could not be reached for comment.

Those who did attend Monday's session, Mr. Humphreys, Mr. Colby and Commissioner Keith Mulvihill, said they did not feel comfortable drafting a final budget document without the others. The hope is that all five commissioners will attend Monday's meeting, which will start with a discussion session at 6 p.m., two hours before the commissioners' regular public meeting at 8 p.m.

While the 6 p.m. meeting is open to the public, no public comment is taken. Public comment will be taken at the regular 8 p.m. meeting.

In the meantime, the Mt. Lebanon Police Association sent a letter to Mt. Lebanon residents, informing them that the commissioners supported the layoff of a police officer.

In a news release, the association describes the officer as a member of the Community Oriented Police Services, which handles education efforts aimed at children, homeowners, business owners and senior citizens, and urges people to speak out on the matter.

The letter said the commissioners were continuing with park improvements but cutting the police department and that the police department came in $200,000 under budget this year.

Mr. Humphreys said the department was currently under budget, but that, after significant expenditures are made in the coming weeks, the department will have used its budgeted funds for 2005.

The commissioners will take a final vote on the budget at a special meeting set for 8 p.m. Wednesday.