Westmoreland commissioners expected to pass 32.5% tax hike

Westmoreland commissioners are expected to implement the largest county property tax increase in more than two decades when they meet Thursday morning to approve the 2024 operating budget.

The proposal calls for taxpayers to see a 32.5% increase next year through two separate levies, one that will fund general government operations and a new tax to pay for Westmoreland’s growing debt.

The proposal calls for county property taxes to rise from 21.49 mills to the state-imposed cap of 25 mills. Commissioners also will implement an additional 3.48-mill tax earmarked to pay off more than $14 million in debt that, in past years, was financed through general operating revenues. Debt payments in 2023 totaled about $9 million.

“This is a very hard and heavy decision, and I’ll take it on the chin as chairman of the board. Once again, this is not what I want to do, obviously, at a time where we see record inflation and the cost of utilities going up that we see across the board. This is what we have to do to provide the services for our citizens of Westmoreland County,” Commissioner Sean Kertes said.

The new tax dedicated to repayment of existing debt is a novel approach in Westmoreland County.

Commissioners said the debt tax could fluctuate in future years depending what must be repaid.

“It forces a future board to take the tax to zero if the debt goes to zero,” Commissioner Doug Chew said.

The total tax hike is expected to generate up to $28 million in new revenue. Each mill of taxes raises about $4 million.

Finance director Meghan McCandless said the final budget slated for approval lists $456.8 million in expenses and is balanced through the tax increase as well as use of $25 million in American Rescue Plan funds, nearly exhausting the county’s $105.4 million allocation of covid-relief money.

“This is a difficult decision for all of us and a decision we did not take lightly. We looked at every single option we possibly could before pulling the trigger on this. However, there is nothing else we could do because our revenues are flat,” Kertes said.

Commissioners said about $15 million in expenses were cut from a preliminary budget pitched last month. Those cuts were not enough to offset rising costs and required spending for mandated programs, Chew said.

Meanwhile, property taxes generate about 19% of the budget’s revenue.

“The raising of the interest rates by the Federal Reserve has caused some commercial projects to slow down, not allowing them to hit the tax rolls as fast as we would like. That, combined with the fact that much of county government is mandated by state and federal statutes — including how much we must spend and how much we must do — yet those state and federal statutes have not kept pace with inflation. That leaves us to burden our taxpayers in order to maintain the funds necessary to follow the law,” Chew said.

Commissioners last raised taxes in December 2019, when that year’s outgoing board approved a 2.4% increase, the first hike in the county millage rate since 2005, when the property levy ballooned by more than 23%.

The proposed increase for 2024 means an average homeowner whose property carries a fair market value of $181,000 could see their tax bill rise by about $126 next year.

With the apparent backing of two of the three county commissioners — Kertes and Chew — the proposed tax hike is expected to be approved.

Commissioner Ted Kopas did not immediately respond to a request for comment.