TAYLOR - The average borough homeowner could pay $106.43 a year in property taxes in 2013 - the first time in more than 20 years a resident will face such a tax.
During Wednesday's reconvened borough work session, borough officials proposed the 10-mill tax to fill the $450,000 worst-case-scenario deficit caused primarily by falling revenues from the Alliance Sanitary Landfill, council President Kenneth Mickavicz said.
A mill is equal to a $1 tax for every $1,000 in assessed value. The average residential property in Taylor is assessed at $10,643. The population is 6,263.
"It's as low as it can be, but we're not happy we have to impose it," Mr. Mickavicz said.
The $3,113,601 budget for 2013 still needs some revision to reflect the final deficit, he said, but a property tax is unavoidable.
Council expects to have a firmer handle on the budget when it reconvenes on Monday. The 2012 budget was $3,020,145.
After Alliance stopped giving the borough a guaranteed minimum payment of $1.35 million in 2010 and instead began paying $1.90 per ton, revenue has dropped steeply. Each year since then, the borough has received about a quarter of what it used to get and has been forced to draw from savings to balance the budget and postpone a property tax.
That savings has decreased to about $350,000 this year, Mr. Mickavicz said.
Judith Jaget, 51, said she knew the borough property tax was coming, but she just didn't know when. Still, it is not as bad as it could be for Taylor.
"If that's what we have to do, then that's what we have to do," Mrs. Jaget, a 10-year resident of Taylor, said. "It's a good community. To me, it's worth it."
Among Downvalley municipalities, Taylor will still have the lowest property tax. Moosic residents pay $198.56 a year on average, and Old Forge residents pay an average of $255.82.
For some Taylor residents, such as Michelle Reed, 42, the tax is still going to have an impact on spending.
"All good things must come to an end," Mrs. Reed, a lifelong resident of Taylor, said. "I guess this is it."
Contact the writer: jkohut@timesshamrock.com, @jkohutTT on Twitter