SCRANTON - Hearings in Lackawanna County Court of Common Pleas on Scranton's request for a commuter tax that were scheduled for Monday and Tuesday have been rescheduled to Tuesday and Wednesday, court officials said.
The hearings were pushed back one day due to a death in the family of one of the three judges who will be hearing the city's petition.
A second day for the hearing to continue may not be necessary but was scheduled in case it cannot be completed in one day.
A 1 percent earned income tax on people who work in the city but live elsewhere is one of the key alternatives to property tax hikes under the city's revised Act 47 recovery plan for 2013-15, and the city's proposed budget for 2013. The city needs approval from the court to impose a commuter tax each year that it may exist. Such a tax is estimated to raise $2.5 million next year and $4 million in each of 2014 and 2015.
The panel includes Lackwanna County Judges Terrence Nealon and Robert Mazzoni and visiting Pike County Judge Harold Thomson.
Judge Nealon's brother, Jack Nealon, 60, of Arlington, Va., and formerly of Scranton, died Friday at Georgetown Medical Center following a battle with cancer, according to his obituary.
jlockwood@timesshamrock.com