Officials criticize city-plan tax hike

By RACHEL HOGAN
Collegian Staff Writer

Though proponents say consolidation will help the State College borough save money, the borough council fears losing control.

If College Township, Patton Township and the borough are consolidated, the total loss would be more than $2 million, State College Borough Manager Peter Marshall said at a joint meeting of the municipalities last week. Real estate taxes will increase across the board, Marshall said.

And if the borough consolidates and loses its home-rule charter, it will become a third-class city government. Then the earned-income tax in State College would be reduced from 1.3 percent to 0.5 percent. And the business privilege tax, which totals $625,000 a year for the borough, would be eliminated, he said.

Under a home-rule charter, the borough is allowed to set its own taxing limits, and that is not true in a third-class city, council member Felicia Lewis said.

Council member R. Thomas Berner said in an interview that if the people vote for consolidation in May and want to keep a home-rule charter, they must follow through in the fall and vote for a government study committee. The committee would propose a home-rule charter, which the residents must then vote for.

"If we have to live at any time as a third-class city, it would wreck us. We cannot ever be a third-class city," he said.

And while he favors consolidation, Berner worries that it is unclear when the third-class city would "come alive" if consolidation passes. But he said he has faith that if the people vote for consolidation, they will follow through and vote on the government study and the home-rule charter.

And he said he believes the Chamber of Business and Industry of Centre County, which is initiating the consolidation, also wants a home-rule charter.

Though the organization said it would like the consolidated areas to have a home-rule charter, Lewis said she is concerned because, in the past, Patton Township's home-rule charter vote has failed at the ballot box. As a result, she said she is very hesitant to hand over the charter even temporarily.

The State College Planning Commission and other governing bodies may hold two more meetings to discuss the home-rule charter, public services and quality of life under the new government.

Lewis noted that because services are handled differently by each municipality, borough and township officials must agree on a standard for those services. But the little flexibility provided in a third-class city is the biggest concern.

"The most troubling thing to those of us in the borough is that there is no assurance that we would arrive back at the home-rule charter, which we now have," Lewis said. "While some of the township officials see the advantage of a home-rule charter, they are not as dedicated to the ideas as we are because we already have one. We don't want to step back."

Making taxation changes in a third-class city would be difficult, she said. But Berner said he thinks the financial issues are secondary.

"I don't think there will be any savings. I think a better reason to consolidate is to make a government that works better for us," Berner said at last week's meeting.

Because State College is a fast-growing city, Lewis said it makes more sense to have fewer governing bodies. But with only three of the five municipalities participating, the future of consolidation is questionable, she said.

Ferguson Township and Harris Township are not interested in merging, she said, and College Township has shown little interest. College Township's proximity to the borough and Patton Township has thrown it into the middle, she said.