Murrysville will hold public hearing on earned-income tax hike proposal

Murrysville council will take public comment March 3 on what could be its first tax increase in 13 years.

The public hearing will explore a proposal to double earned-income taxes from the current 0.5% to 1%.

“This goes back to our fiscal analysis and the need to identify alternate revenue sources,” Chief Administrator Jim Morrison said at council’s Feb. 3 meeting. “Our original projection was to start doing that in 2023; then covid came.”

Morrison said earned-income tax has become a major revenue source for the municipality.

“Real estate is lagging, and new construction is down,” he said. “Typically, in the past we’ve seen 60-80 homes built per year, and we’re seeing closer to 20 per year now.”

Councilwoman Jamie Lee Korns credited municipal staff with doing “an amazing job of trying to seek grants and other services at the best possible rates constantly, and trying to find alternate funding sources.”

“But you can’t do that forever with rising costs and expect it to keep pace,” she said.

Morrison said Murrysville has always been a progressive community, and has always been “professionally run on the cutting edge.”

“To continue to be there, we need the resources to continue that type of service. If the community wants less, we can provide less. But there will be significant changes as a result of that,” he said.

As examples, Morrison pointed to council’s vote earlier in the evening to help fund the purchase of a new $1.5 million ladder truck for Murrysville Volunteer Fire Company No. 1, and its annual $320,000 in support for the Murrysville Community Library.

“If we, as a community, want to continue to deliver the level of services we have, and that the residents of this community expect, these alternate revenue sources have to be found,” he said. “We’re bringing this forth as one of those.”

The municipality shares the earned-income tax with the Franklin Regional School District. However, if enacted, the municipal hike would not affect the school district’s share or cause it to increase.

The municipality’s last tax hike was to real estate property tax in 2007.

The hearing will take place at 7 p.m. prior to the evening’s regular council meeting. All meetings are broadcast on Comcast local access Channel 19 and livestreamed at Murrysville.com by clicking on “Channel 19” under “Connect” in the “Residents” menu.