SCRANTON - In a legal brief filed Monday, Scranton claims it has met its legal burdens for 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 necessary to balance the city's 2013 budget by generating $2.5 million, and to continue the city's financial recovery and restore fiscal integrity, states the brief by city solicitors Paul Kelly and Matthew Butler.
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. The city argues that it has met these hurdles, including showing the city 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.