At an invitation-only meeting in the Mt. Lebanon municipal building Saturday morning, residents posed questions about the current and future state of taxation in the town to a panel consisting of Mt. Lebanon Commissioner Matthew Kluck, school Director James Fraasch, Coldwell Banker real estate agent Eleanor Carpenter and Allegheny Institute for Public Policy researcher Frank Gamrat.

An audio recording of the meeting was posted by someone who attended on the website for Concerned Citizens of Mt. Lebanon. The Post-Gazette was not provided a ticket to report on the event.

The announced topic of the meeting was "Perspectives on Living in and Governing a Highly Taxed Community," and questions from those attending and responses from the panelists focused on tax-related issues, such as pension responsibilities, possible school and municipal budget savings, the real estate outlook and the high school renovation and associated millage increase.

Point Park University broadcast journalism professor Anthony Moretti was moderator. He replaced KDKA-TV reporter Jon Delano, who was unable to attend due to a death in the family.

Panelists began the 90-minute meeting with brief statements, saying that they were providing their opinions, not speaking in official capacities.

Mr. Moretti read some questions submitted by audience members in advance and then allowed audience members to ask questions, according to the audio recording.

The first question read by Mr. Moretti -- "Is Mt. Lebanon nearing a tipping point beyond which our community will decline irreversibly, or have we passed that point already?" -- set the tone for the meeting's focus on the cost of local government and how to control that cost.

Some time was spent discussing increased costs to the taxpayer due to pension responsibilities and whether the community would see increased revenue now or in the future from casinos and Marcellus Shale drilling.

Ms. Carpenter said people considering buying a home in Mt. Lebanon consider the community, the type of homes, the scores coming out of the school district and the taxes.

Both Mr. Fraasch and Mr. Kluck discussed pursuing public-private partnerships as a way to decrease costs.

Outside the municipal building, about 50 people picketed. Many of the protesters held signs supportive of the high school project and against the town hall meeting and Mr. Kluck.

"I would say people looked at the guest list, the organizers and the history of their involvement and probably reached a conclusion, good or bad, that part of the agenda was a discussion of that project from the opposition side," said David Reese, one of the protesters.

Protesters were concerned the meeting would create the perception that opposition to the $113.2 million high school project was a majority opinion, Mr. Reese said.

The high school renovation was not the main focus of the meeting, but the topic did come up. A question was posed about whether student safety would be affected if renovations were not made to the high school. Mr. Fraasch said there are some issues with safety and that something needed to be done.

Someone asked whether the project was a "done deal," and Mr. Fraasch said some planning issues remained but he believes they will be worked out.

Another audience member asked Ms. Carpenter whether the condition of the high school is a deciding factor for prospective Mt. Lebanon residents, and she said no, that people do not care about the state of the building and instead care about the quality of the education.

But Mr. Fraasch said he has heard of two families for whom the condition of the high school was a deciding factor in their decisions to not move to Mt. Lebanon.

According to the audiotape, Mr. Kluck said he would tentatively plan another town hall meeting. Seventy-six people attended the Saturday session, said Charlotte Stephenson, one of the event's organizers.

"I believe that people are interested in what's happening economically, even though you would never know by what you see normally at commission meetings and school board meetings," Ms. Stephenson said. "I was heartened by the attendance."

She said the meeting will be shown on public access television but she was unsure of when. Future town hall meetings, with a possible focus on issues at the state level, are being discussed, she said.

• Read a letter to the editor on this meeting, S-2.

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