Council OKs Lease With Mensch; No Room for Tax Collector

Borough council unanimously approved this month to renewing a rental agreement with state Sen. Robert Mensch for office space at .

Mensch will be renting out the space formerly occupied by tax collector Robert Di Domizio inside borough hall at a rate of $192.90 per month.

Mensch previously held office hours at borough hall from 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. every Tuesday and Friday.

Councilman Jack Hansen asked council how the $192.90 per month figure came to be.

"The reason I ask this question: a number of people in the borough have asked the tax collector to come in and rent the same office because they were very comfortable in the past coming to borough hall to pay their taxes when they came in," Hansen said.

He said tax collector Jim Hanratty is now in another office.

One of Hanratty's campaign promise during last year's election was to have office space at borough hall for residents to pay their taxes.

"When (Hanratty) approached the borough to rent the same office space, he was quoted at $250 per day, which, if you check that out, it would come in somewhere at $3,000 a month," he said. "This is something about $128 less."

Former tax collector Christine Calhoun - who had 15 years of experience as a tax collector before being voted out of office - was charged around $200 per day by the borough to use council chambers as office space.

Councilman Dan Dunigan told Hansen the Senate dictates the rate.

"That's $192," he said. "Two-hundred-fifty dollars a day is called a market rate: that's what gets paid in the open market, not by government mandate. It's very straightforward."

Council President Matt West added that the rent quoted to Hanratty was the same rate that the borough was charging Calhoun, with the exception of a few dollars more for inflation. 

Hansen said it "didn't make a difference who the collector was," and he wanted to know where the rate came from.

"We want to charge more, but (the Senate) won't let us," Dunigan said.

Councilman Steve Malagari said the Senate rate is based on $1 per square foot.