Editorial: Is massive Westmoreland tax increase an overcorrection?

The most dangerous part of an imminent crash can be the attempt to avoid it.

This being Pennsylvania, most of us are familiar with the hazards of driving on an icy road. When the wheels slip, you can make cautious adjustments that help you regain control — or you can jerk the wheel the other way and overcorrect yourself into a spin that makes everything worse.

It’s just as bad for institutions as it is for a motor vehicle. That’s why the Federal Reserve adjusts interest rates in increments instead of by massive leaps up or down.

In November, Westmoreland County Commissioners gave their preliminary approval to a 2024 budget that had shortfalls in revenue. Instead, it relied on things like American Rescue Plan money and $10 million in precious surplus funds. We questioned whether it was responsible to leave the county with just a $2.4 million cushion for emergencies.

A preliminary budget allows for the freedom to make changes before final approval.

On Thursday, Westmoreland’s commissioners did their final run at the $456.7 million spending plan. They did not make a small course correction to avoid a skid. They yanked the wheel in the other direction hard, passing a 32.5% property tax increase.

This makes the 2.4% increase in 2019 feel like a few coins dropped in a fountain.

“Taxes should have been raised years ago, and we’re obviously coming to the point where we are left with no other alternative to do this,” Commissioner Sean Kertes said.

There is no denying the county, like most government entities, has had financial challenges in recent years. There has been inflation, the need to pay to attract more employees, pandemic fallout.

But not adjusting the amount of money coming in to cover that outlay is irresponsible. It’s like paying your mortgage and your electric bill and buying groceries despite knowing the checks will all bounce.

“Obviously, it’s not a vote we wanted to do, but we had to do to provide the services needed for Westmoreland County,” Kertes said.

Small, regular, barely felt tax increases would have been preferable and could have raised more money with less impact, but that ship has sailed. Does that mean that an almost one-third increase in taxes was the only way to go?

No. The increase has two parts. There is 3.51 mills for general operating. Another 3.48 will go for debt payments.

Why couldn’t the commissioners have picked between skidding off the road or overcompensating with a hard spin in the other direction? For example, implement the 3.51 mills as a tax increase and use less of the budget surplus to cover debt payments and commit to incremental increases going forward.

This isn’t just a Westmoreland issue. It happens with school districts and municipalities. The commissioners, like many government officials, want to be liked. Keeping their jobs depends upon it. Raise taxes, and it makes people cranky.

But giving people what they want can mean setting them up for a bigger, harder blow in the future. That blow will come with 2024’s tax bills.