Potter passes budget: taxes frozen at 12.3 mils

The Potter County Commissioners held a brief business meeting last week to put their final stamp of approval on the county's 2008 operating budget. It is a balanced spending plan that carries a surplus forward into the new year and calls for about 6.75 million dollars in expenses, with real estate taxes remaining at 12.3 mills.

Commissioners Ken Wingo, Cathy Bowers and John Torok voted in favor of the budget. Doug Morley, Paul Heimel and Susan Kefover take office for a four-year term on Monday, Jan. 7. The new board has the option of reopening the 2008 budget and adjusting the allotments or tax rate.

That spending plan includes a nine-percent increase in expenses.

Real estate taxes have been held in check due, in part, to an increase in state payments in lieu of taxes for forest, game and park land. Those annual payments, starting in 2006, went from about $120,000 to $360,000. That increase in county revenue helps to offset higher operating expenses at the county jail, which may reach the $1 million mark this year.

There's also an additional $50,000 in anticipated 2008 expenses for Potter County Human Services; higher wages and benefit expenses for county employees; and a $200,000 allotment to operate and maintain the new Gunzburger Annex in the former Coudersport Elementary School.

Commissioners raised real estate taxes by 14 percent a year ago to cover 2007 expenses.