Opponents of Scranton's commuter tax filed legal papers Thursday to fight the new levy in court.
Separate but nearly identical petitions to intervene against Scranton's request for a commuter tax were filed by Mayfield Mayor Alexander Chelik, representing the Lackawanna County Association of Boroughs and his newly formed civic group Scranton Taxing Our People, and by Larissa Pawelski, a Throop resident who commutes to work in Scranton.
City resident Marie Schumacher also filed legal papers Monday opposing a commuter tax, in which she raises numerous questions, including whether city officials have done enough to avoid a commuter tax.
A panel of three Lackawanna County Court judges on Dec. 10 will hear the city's petition for a 1 percent earned income tax on people who work in the city but live elsewhere.
A commuter tax is one of the key alternatives to property tax hikes under the city's revised Act 47 recovery plan adopted Aug. 23. The city needs approval from the court to impose a commuter tax each year that it may exist.
Along with $2.5 million next year, a commuter tax is estimated to generate $4 million in each of 2014 and 2015 and then be discontinued, city officials have said.
After the city imposed a commuter tax in 1993-94, former state Rep. Frank Serafini legislated in 1996 a more rigorous, three-pronged test for the city to be able to secure court approval for a commuter tax. These hurdles require the city to show it has "substantially implemented" other parts of a recovery plan, including raising taxes and fees on city residents, taking steps to gain required approval from other groups such as courts, voters or unions, and showing that additional city tax revenue from such steps isn't enough to balance the city's budget.
City Business Administrator Ryan McGowan also has filed a certification in court attesting that the city has met the Serafini threshold.
"They're going to have to prove that in court," Mr. Chelik said in a phone interview. "The burden of proof is not on us. That's the way it was set up by the Serafini amendment."
The Chelik/Pawelski petitions claim the proposed commuter tax is unreasonable, excessive and fails to comply with the state's Financial Recovery Act in that, "The city has not exhausted all other primary revenue sources."
Mr. Chelik also noted that city council, "against the wishes of the (Scranton) mayor," reduced property taxes by 10 percent in 2011 and this year increased property taxes by only 5 percent when they mayor sought a 29 percent hike.
The Chelik/Pawelski petitions also note the city's petition says the 2013 budget's operating revenues would be $73.3 million and expenditures would be $73.1 million, but the budget itself states revenues and expenses both as $109.7 million. City officials have attributed the difference to borrowing. But the accuracy of the estimated budget figures are subject to audits of 2011, which still has not been completed, and 2012, the petitions state.
Mr. Chelik and his groups and Ms. Pawelski are represented by attorney Armand Olivetti of Scranton, who Mr. Chelik said had been involved in fighting Scranton's prior commuter tax in the 1990s.
Efforts to reach Ms. Pawelski and Mr. Olivetti were not successful.
Contact the writer: jlockwood@timesshamrock.com