Tax Realty Consultant

Fayette County commissioners will adopt a preliminary 2008 budget on Thursday, but all three were mum Tuesday on whether tax rates will be affected.

Two commissioners who attended yesterday’s agenda meeting, Angela Zimmerlink and Vince Vicites, said it’s too early in the planning process to determine whether tax rates will remain the same.

Commissioner Joe Hardy was absent from the meeting. His assistant, Jessica Hajek, declined comment because the board is still waiting on some additional budgetary figures.

Zimmerlink said she needs firmer estimates on revenue, including whether the current year will end with a surplus.

“We’ve been given a projected savings of $600,000, but it’s not in writing,” Zimmerlink said after yesterday’s meeting. “We need a more accurate figure.”

Zimmerlink said her goal since having been elected is to reduce millage. Vicites said he prefers not to raise taxes.

“I do all I can to avoid a tax increase, but in the final analysis, we have to work at this to get it balanced,” Vicites said. “A tax increase is a last resort.”

The current property tax rate is 3.5 mills, with 1 mill generating $4.2 million per year. The 2007 budget was set at $22 million.

In another matter, Zimmerlink and Vicites disagreed over whether the county should seek proposals for a transportation consultant or contract the responsibility to a former employee who now works for a private company.

The board will decide on Thursday whether to approve a contract with McMillen Engineering for consultation services for the Transportation Improvement Program/Southwestern Pennsylvania Commission planning process. McMillen would be paid $48 hourly for up to 65 hours of work.

Vicites said Tammy Stenson, former county director of planning, zoning and community development, would do the work for McMillen. Stenson left her county position this month to take a job with McMillen.

Vicites said Stenson’s experience with the transportation improvement program makes her the best candidate, especially considering “we are in a critical stage of the TIP for the 12-year transportation improvement program.”

Through the Transportation Improvement Program, the Southwestern Planning Commission prioritizes spending of state and federal funds on transportation projects in a 10-county region.

The transportation improvement plan includes funding for projects through October, according to the commission’s Web site. Planning is under way for projects that communities want to be included in the program’s next phase, which includes fiscal years 2009 through 2012.

Over the next two years, Vicites said Fayette is in line for between $55 million and $60 million in transportation projects. The county will lobby the commission for projects it wants to have funded.

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