Council Approves $1.8 Million Bond Ordinance

The borough will bond for nearly $2 million to help pay for the mounting tax appeals it owes, after a unanimous council vote on Tuesday to borrow the money.

Part of the $1.8 million bond will fund a $500,000 payment due immediately, but the borough owes an additional $1.3 million in appeals as well.

There are currently 150 tax appeals pending against the borough, and

Councilman Alan Brundage said the borough could owe an additional $1 million soon.

"They're coming in at such a fast pace, we can't keep up," Brundage, the budget committee chairman, said.

Tax appeals come from residents and business owners who believe they are paying too much in property taxes because their property is assessed as too valuable by the government. If they win their appeals, municipalities have to refund residents for the excess property taxes they collected.

The borough was unlikely in that its properties were assessed in 2008, at the height of the real estate bubble, Brundage said. Home values have dropped since then, and have yet to hit bottom, according to real estate website Zillow.

The rate of appeals will stabilize once housing prices do, but Brundage wasn't optimistic about a recovery in the market any time soon.

"They keep talking to me about this recovery," he said. "I don't see it."