A Washington County commissioner accused his colleagues of political grandstanding for proposing to use casino tax money to slash the county's already low property taxes.
Democratic Commission Chairman Larry Maggi on Tuesday suggested that a projected $12 million in revenue next year from The Meadows Racetrack & Casino be used to cut the county property tax almost in half.
Democratic Vice Chairman J. Bracken Burns Sr. attacked Maggi on Wednesday, saying the state casino law sets aside 2 percent of taxes on the North Strabane slots parlor's earnings strictly for economic development projects and job creation in the county, not tax cuts.
"It's just simply reprehensible to me that you would go to your voters and say, 'I'm going to do this,' when you know damn well you are not going to do this. It's a lie, it's a fabrication, it's pandering," Burns said.
Maggi's idea is worth consideration, even though county residents pay some of the lowest property taxes in the region, said Republican Commissioner Diana Irey.
Asked why Burns was so stridently opposed, Irey said: "Maybe because it wasn't his idea."
Someone who bought a house for $150,000 last year in Washington County would owe about $424 in county taxes this year, based on current millage rates and state tax equalization ratios. That's slightly more than a home of the same price in Butler County but significantly lower than the more than $600 estimated county tax bill in Allegheny and Westmoreland counties and close to $1,000 in Beaver County.
Maggi suggested the property tax cut after a group of state lawmakers from Washington County asked the commission Tuesday to change how the local share of casino revenues is spent.
This year the state Department of Community and Economic Development authorized allocating $8.2 million in gambling tax revenue, generated from the casino's June 2007 opening to March 31, on more than two dozen projects. The department has final say on the commissioners' recommendations.
The largest projects included $1.3 million for infrastructure improvements at the Southpointe Business Park off Interstate 79, $1.2 million for the Alta Vista Business Park building off Interstate 70 and $1.2 million to expand the Starpointe Business Park off Route 22.
Lawmakers, led by state Rep. Jesse White, D-Cecil, want the commissioners to put one-third of the gambling money into economic development, another third into water and sewer projects and give the rest to municipal governments for capital projects.
| Even Cheaper? |
| Two Washington
County commissioners have suggested
using casino money to cut county property taxes, already low by
regional standards, almost in half. |
| Estimated 2008
county property taxes for a typical house purchased for $150,000 last
year. |
| County |
Assessed Value |
Mills |
Tax |
| Washington |
$19,800 |
21.4 |
$424 |
| Allegheny |
$129,750 |
4.69 |
$609 |
| Beaver |
$43,800 |
22.2 |
$972 |
| Butler |
$13,950 |
30.0 |
$419 |
| Westmoreland |
$30,600 |
20.99 |
$642 |
| Sources: State
Tax Equalization Board; county treasurers' offices, Tribune-Review
research |
Critics say big economic development projects are crowding out important local infrastructure needs, White said.
"I view this as the beginning of a conversation, but unfortunately it's a conversation (the commissioners) are simply just not interested in having," White said.
Maggi downplayed Burns' criticism of his property tax cut proposal.
"We all agreed about the original plan, and then that plan was picked apart and a new plan was devised. And that one, we're not sure whether it will pass DCED muster. So I just suggested let's do tax relief," he said.
Department spokesman Kevin Ortiz declined to say whether either plan is in line with the 2004 act that authorized the casinos and dictates how tax revenues should be spent.
"It'll take a thorough review of the statute," Ortiz said. "We're not going to make an interpretation at this time."
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