Fed Ed To Propose Up to Two Mill Tax Hike

Allentown's Home Rule Charter, Section 802, requires Mayor Edwin "Fed Ed" Pawlowski to present City Council with a balanced budget and budget message at least 60 days prior to the end of the fiscal year. That means his budget is due no later than Monday. When it arrives, it will include a tax hike, possibly as high as two mills. City Council member Julio Guridy has confirmed that there will be a tax hike, but is unsure just how high it will be. The voting public, it appears, will be kept completely out of the loop until the day after the election.

When will the public know? It appears that this tax hike, a certainty, will be kept under wraps until the day after the election. The fear is Jeff Glazier and Mary Ellen Koval, both of whom are running for re-election to City Council and Controller,.will be hurt if the public knows what really is being planned.

Allentown City Council's Budget and Finance Committee, which ordinarily meets every fourth Wednesday, was suddenly canceled by Chairman Jeff Glazier yesterday. Is this because Glazier wishes to avoid discussing the tax hike he knows is on its way?

City Council Clerk Mike Hanlon said the Budget Committee often delays its monthly meeting. "That's not out of the ordinary," he explained. "I would never have anticipated the Budget tonight."

So when will the actual Budget be presented? "You'll have to ask them," he answered, referring to the Mayor's office. The Mayor's office, not known for its transparency, won't be answering that question.

I called Glazier and left a message, but he never returned my call. Controller Mary Ellen Koval also failed to return my call, bit I cornered her at yesterday's Dougherty rally. "As far as I know, it's coming out on Monday," she said of the budget.

Here's the likely scenario. Fed Ed's tax hike budget will be released late Monday, as required by the Home Rule Charter. But he is only required to release it to City Council, and will refuse to release it to the public until Wednesday, ostensibly to give Council an opportunity to review it first.

The first inkling the public will have of a tax hike will be at Wednesday's Budget and Finance Committee, one day after the election.

Lou Hershman, a City Council candidate and watchdog who alerted me to the sudden cancellation of the Budget Committee, had some harsh words for Pawlowski and Glazier.

"It's bad enough that seniors on fixed incomes and the working poor are going to have to pay for the City's fiscal irresponsibility, but keeping this important information from the public is no better than a burglar who sneaks into your home in the dead of night. Burglars get prosecuted, but it's too bad there's no penalty for politicians who steal elections."

Well now you know. A Morning Call reporter was in earshot when I was speaking to Guridy, so my guess is that it knows, too. This is news and is something the public has a right to know.

According to The Express Times, Allentown already has the highest taxes in the Lehigh Valley. "The school, county and city property taxes are $7,964.06 on a home assessed at $180,863 in Allentown. $180,863 is the average assessment for a residential property in Lehigh County."