Taylor Taxpayers to Get Property Tax Bills Again

Taylor, Lackawanna County - Taxpayers who live in the borough of Taylor will soon see something they haven't seen in more than 20 years, a property tax bill.

Borough council approved its 2013 budget on Wednesday night which calls for the first property tax since the 1980s.

Officials say the tax isn't something they want to do but is something they needed to do.

The borough manager says Taylor is getting less money from the Alliance Landfill and in order to keep the same level of services a property tax is needed.

"It was a nice ride that were able to have it for that long with the landfill," Jack Nowacki of Taylor said. "It's a sign of the times I guess."

Nowacki understands the need for the property tax but that doesn't me he likes it.

"We're on fixed incomes now. I'm retired now and you get a little bit here, you get a little bit from the county, the utilities go up," Nowacki said.

Officials say the property tax is needed next year because the amount of money the borough gets from a landfill agreement has dropped. Money from the landfill is still coming in, just not as much as in the past.

Borough leaders say in years past, roughly 75-percent of the budget was paid with money from the landfill.

The property tax will be a little more than 11.5 mills. That averages out to roughly $130 for the average homeowner.

"It's not a great amount anyway. It's only 100-some dollars but nevertheless, what are you going to do?" Bill Preslock said. "It's a decent town and I don't have any problems with it."

Because of the property tax a room at the borough building is being renovated for a tax collector.

Officials expect the bills will shock some people.

"I think we've had a lot of situations where people don't even realize at times that they were missing a tax bill so I suspect that we will have something in February, when the bills get out there, some surprise out there," borough manager Dan Zeleniak said.