No tax hike good news for county

With a fatal police-involved shooting locally, a double whammy of hurricanes wreaking devastation in the nation’s south, and a widening war in the Middle East, it hasn’t exactly been a week of rosy news. Which may be all the more reason to focus on one of those good news items found in a Wednesday story about several Luzerne County Council decisions: A proposed 2025 budget with no tax hikes.

County Manager Romilda Crocamo unveiled a budget she dubbed “lean” that predicts a revenue increase of $1.77 million (1.07%, despite a property tax revenue decrease of $2.5 million (thanks in good part to a lower reassessment for the Wyoming Valley Mall property).

While a budget with no tax increases is particularly welcome in a time when many are still grappling with the after-effects of an inflation surge that now, thankfully, seems to have subsided (knock on wood), there are some elements in the proposal that need to be taken as potential future concerns.

The biggest is that the budget relies on one-time revenue sources to not only cover the property tax decline, but to make the spending increase possible as well. Specifically, $3 million in federal American Rescue Plan interest payments, and $1 million carried over from reserve funds.

Longtime government watchdogs know that “one-time revenues” can translate into “structural deficit,” if they keep recurring. An entity that continually relies on such fortunate funding may be using it to hide the fact that regular revenues are not keeping up with growing expenses.

But that’s a wait-and-see concern, at least this year. And frankly, we believe Crocamo has proven she’s keen enough to know the danger and to adjust in future years, avoiding a problem that developed under the old, three-commissioner form of county government which led to some stunning debt — debt the county has now spent a decade or so crawling out of.

Some evidence that Crocamo and the rest of the administration are determined not to fall into that trap (aside from her own past actions) can be seen in the proposed numbers for salaries: The budget includes operating expense reductions to offset salary increases, including a projected $377,855 increase for non-union workers.

“The proposed balanced budget with no tax increase represents hard work from the budget team as well as staff from all divisions working closely together to develop a sustainable budget.”

The proposal projects $167.3 million. County Council now has until Dec. 15 to scrutinize, debate and propose alternatives, though a final vote is tentatively set for a meeting five days before that legal deadline.

It is, obviously, too early to critique the full document. But it arrives in time to give council and the public a full two months to pore over the details. It’s important for council to do just that, and it is particularly important that such analysis be done in a non-partisan, apolitical fashion — an approach that seems difficult for many elected officials during a hyper-partisan presidential election year.

Here’s hoping that, when all is said and done, the final approved budget has one feature most coveted in the initial proposal: No tax increase.

It is, as the Bard wrote for Hamlet’s famous “To be or not to be” soliloquy, “a consummation devoutly to be wished.”

But for now, let’s take comfort in an idea, it seems, within reach.