Residents could have save thousands of dollars had Mt. Lebanon cooperated with its taxpayers. It would have been a win-win situation.
But Miss High and Mighty Morgans said that Mt. Lebanon can't violate its Home Rule Charter.
We NEVER make exceptions, do we? What would have happened if we had? If you want reasonable government, consider moving to Upper St. Clair, Peters Township, or Bethel Park. They look out for their residents.
Read more: New tax rules befuddle some property owners, make early birds out of others
Update December 29, 2017 8:51 PM I wanted to share the following with Lebo Citizens Readers. Rudy Bies emailed some more of his thoughts on this topic.
I am sending this just for the record to support why I believe the residents of Mt. Lebanon were treated very poorly by our very own local government.
Below is the link for a PDF of the
LOCAL TAX COLLECTION LAW
Act of May. 25, 1945, P.L. 1050, No. 394
Act of May. 25, 1945, P.L. 1050, No. 394
This is the law that Joe Senko, Mt. Lebanon Treasurer gave to me and it was his excuse as to why he could not accept any 2018 tax payment in 2017.
http://www.legis.state.pa.us/WU01/LI/LI/US/PDF/1945/0/0394..PDF
To make it easy -I have highlighted below what is found near the bottom of page
To make it easy -I have highlighted below what is found near the bottom of page
19 of 37, of the attached PDF, which is a copy of the law.
Section 15. Receiving County Taxes Not Assessed and Adding
Names to Duplicates Prohibited.--It shall not be lawful for any
county treasurer, county commissioner or any tax collector, nor
for any other person, on his or their behalf, to receive payment
or give any receipt for the payment of any taxes that have not
been duly assessed and returns of said assessment made according
to law, nor shall any such treasurer, commissioner or tax
collector, or other person on his or their behalf, receive
payment or give any receipt for the payment of any taxes from
the collection of which the tax collector has been exonerated
according to law....
I have bolded above and underlined the key provisions.
In short - it is unlawful to "receive payment or give any receipt"...
CONCEPT ONE
Most of us taxpayers are quite content to use our cancelled check as a receipt.
So we as taxpayers are not asking anyone one to give us a receipt, at least not at this time, as many are concerned about their federal tax deduction.
CONCEPT TWO
Notice above - how poorly the law is written - it states that the collector is not allowed to receive payment.
The collector has no control over the taxpayer. When a taxpayer chooses to mail their tax payment to the tax office and the tax office opens the mail, the tax payment has obviously been received. That fact can not be changed.
SUMMARY
Please don't read the above law with an approach for what it should say or what may have been intended - I ask that you simply read it for what it actually says and to read it from a perspective of how you could accommodate the taxpayers if you were in a position of "authority".
Notice above that I have highlighted in red that the law also includes the County, yet Allegheny County was quite helpful in accommodating the tax payers - Joe Senko was not.
It would seem that there was absolutely no effort made to accommodate the taxpaying residents of Mt. Lebanon, not by our local government, not by our state legislature, and not by our governor, who could have easily issued an executive order.
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