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City bumps up recreation tax
Published: November 20, 2009
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share thisSHAMOKIN - City officials approved a tentative budget for 2010 that includes a 1.455 mill increase in the recreation tax to help fund operations of the Rock Street Pool.
Also, Shamokin will ask for court approval again this year to maintain a 5 mill property tax increase instituted last year.
Property owners in 2010 will pay $43.92 on each $1,000 of assessed valuation of taxable property in the city, up $1.46 per thousand from last year.
A balanced budget, in the amount of $2,451,865.83, was approved Monday on a 4 to 1 vote with Councilwoman Betsy Richardson casting the lone dissenting vote. Mayor Ronald "Lum" Bradley and Councilmen George Rozinskie Jr., R. Craig Rhoades and Michael Snyder voted "yes."
The budget includes 43.918 mills, including 30 for general purposes, 11.168 for debt service payments, .750 for the library and 2 for the recreation fund.
The city will go before Common Pleas Court in Northumberland County on Dec. 14 to ask to maintain its property tax millage at 30, which is 5 mills over the maximum allowed by the Third Class City Code.
In fact, without the tax, the city will be in a dire situation, said Treasurer Brenda Scandle.
The increase was sought on the advice of the Pennsylvania Economy League (PEL). Concerned with a growing deficit that had reached $2.7 million by the end of 2007, the city in January 2008 applied for PEL's early intervention program. A subsequent report from PEL in August 2008 projected the deficit would grow to $5.7 million by the end of 2012 if the city didn't take actions to reverse its out-of-balance spending and revenue. PEL cited the city's shrinking tax base as a problem, and the tax increase was among its recommendations.
Tax collection
Scandle said the 5 mills would not be necessary if more residents paid their taxes.
"In the city, we are totally dependent on people paying taxes," said City Clerk David Kinder.
In an effort to collect more than $700,000 in outstanding taxes, the city hired Powell, Rogers and Speaks, a debt-collection firm known for its aggressive methods, to collect delinquent city taxes. The Halifax firm will begin collecting in mid-January.
Though the city was able to balance the budget for 2010, it is still very tight, said Kinder. The large debt still exists, and must be paid down. Kinder said he and Scandle worked diligently on the budget with a new computer system and watched costs very closely to prevent the city from slipping further into debt.
Two police officers who retired were not replaced and two part-time police secretaries and one city hall secretary were laid off late last year.
"We are not deficit-spending and are not borrowing any money to finance city services," Kinder said. "We are paying off what we owe and are being good stewards of the taxpayers' dollars."
In regards to the pool, which needs upgrades to its drain systems to meet federal law, the city has begun a recreation fund. This separate account, rather than operating through the general fund, will allow more precise bookkeeping and accounting procedures for the pool, Scandle said.
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