Wayne 2006 budget has a 31% increase in taxes

All officials and employees will receive raises in 2006

By TOM KANE

HONESDALE, PA — “The cost increases were more than we estimated,” said Wayne County Business Manager John Haggarty, when he presented the 2006 budget to the commissioners on December 8.

The new budget calls for a 31-percent increase in taxes and a total expenditure of $26,482,599. Last year that figure was $25,439,748, an increase in spending of $1,042,841.

A home with an assessed value of $100,000 will pay an additional $670 in property taxes. “Most homes in Wayne have an assessed value of around $50,000, and would pay an additional $335,” Haggarty said.

It was the highest increase in about 10 years, he said.

Contributing to the high increase was the fact that last year the county conducted a reevaluation. “Because the county conducted a reevaluation of all property values last year, it was not permitted by law to increase taxes by more than five percent,” Haggarty said.

The most significant increases in expenses included the self-funded health program for employees, the mandated Children and Youth Services, the Area Agency on Aging and the county jail’s operating expense, he said. “The self-funded health insurance program experienced a very difficult year and was approximately $800,000 over budget in 2005. It had to be budgeted at this higher level in 2006,” Haggarty said.

“We were hit with a bad year in our health insurance program,” he said. “Five or six of our employees had extremely high health expenses—three of them well over $125,000 each,” he said.

The county has a self-funded health program for its 370 employees.

“The children and youth program keeps getting more and more expensive at the same time that the federal and state governments are cutting and cutting,” said commissioner Donald Olsommer.

The state and federal government cut the program down 35 percent, he said. “It’s up to our taxpayers to make up the difference,” Olsommer said.

“The increase in millage is a reflection of rising costs in outside markets, and constant shifts in the cost of programs from the federal and state levels to the local level,” Haggarty said. “For example, there is a decrease in the amount of funds received for wire telephone lines for the 911 department reimbursements, due to increased cellular usage,” he said.

“We receive a fee of $1.25 for every call on our land-line phones,” said commissioners chair Tony Herzog. “Now with the proliferation of cellular phones, we don’t get that money.” Cellular phone calls do not appear on an itemized bill received by the county, making it impossible to tabulate the calls made, he said.

“The county got about $700,000 last year for telephone usage,” Herzog said. “This year, we’ll get only $500,000.”

Rising costs in heating and gasoline also have an effect on the overall budget.” Haggarty said. “We’re cutting back on the automobile trips made by employees, but we can’t stop necessary and essential trips,” he said.

“The commissioners have met with every elected official and the department heads to review their individual budgets, and many cuts were made,” Haggarty said. “This budget cutting effort has been ongoing.”

Haggarty admitted that elected officials and all employees will receive a raise in 2006. He was unable to cite what the increases will be until the salary board meets in January, 2006, to make it official.