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<p>Hazleton resident Judy Yurcho told Luzerne County Council members a 2016 tax hike is too much to bear.</p><p>&#8220;I&#8217;m tired of seeing us get punished,&#8221; she said during Monday&#8217;s on-the-road budget hearing at the Hazle Township municipal building. &#8220;This has got to stop. We elected you to help us, not hurt us.&#8221;</p><p>Yurcho said she must make do on a limited disability income due to injuries from a car crash that was not her fault. City officials also are considering a tax hike, and rising taxes are making it increasingly difficult for county residents to keep or obtain homes, she said. Homeowners still feel the sting of losing the county&#8217;s homestead tax break on owner-occupied primary residences this year, she said.</p><p>She criticized county Manager Robert Lawton for overspending and said the council should terminate him if he can&#8217;t find a way to cover essential services without a tax hike.</p><p>Sylvia Thomas, also of Hazleton, concurred, telling the council to mark her comments down as &#8220;ditto.&#8221;</p><p>Lawton has proposed an 8-percent tax increase in 2016 &#8212; 7 percent to cover $7.2 million in rising expenses and 1 percent to put an additional $1.05 million toward the county&#8217;s remaining $13.1 million deficit.</p><p>The owner of a $100,000 property would pay $46 more, for a new total bill of $620.52, with an 8-percent hike, which is the maximum allowed annually under the county&#8217;s home rule charter.</p><p>The council has tentatively whittled down expenses here and there through ongoing line-by-line budget reviews, but additional needs from some department heads have cropped up, wiping out some of the gains.</p><p>Councilman Rick Morelli said Monday he&#8217;s doubtful he and his colleagues will find enough collective cuts to close the gap and said he will support one of the alternatives that Lawton had cited: using $4.7 million from the homestead to balance the budget instead of putting it in the reserve in 2016 as planned.</p><p>A council majority averted a proposed 4-percent hike in 2015 by eliminating the popular break for 86,300 residences so the $4.7 million from that program could be used for operating expenses.</p><p>Morelli said he had supported plans to put that money in the reserve next year expecting a proposed 2016 budget without a tax hike.</p><p>Using the homestead money for operating expenses again would slow plans to get the county out of the red with no deficit.</p><p>Council Chairwoman Linda McClosky Houck said Morelli&#8217;s proposal will be discussed at next week&#8217;s council meeting.</p><p>Lawton&#8217;s alternatives also included the option for council to reconsider $1.75 million in discretionary funding for outside agencies, including public libraries, transportation authorities and the Penn State Extension office.</p><p>Council members chose to keep such allocations intact last year after complaints that cuts would hurt these agencies, possibly leading to closures.</p><p>Two advocates of the Penn State Extension urged the council Monday to keep covering an earmark for the organization, saying it provides a range of valuable services for both youth and adults.</p><p>The county provides $23,300 for rent and another $193,700 allocation to the Penn State Extension, according to county budget/finance figures the council released Monday.</p><p>City resident Dee Deakos questioned what&#8217;s happening with her February 2014 offer to identify properties that are not on the tax rolls in exchange for a one-time commission.</p><p>&#8220;You&#8217;re talking about not having enough money for your budget, and you should be able to find people that are not paying their fair share,&#8221; Deakos said.</p><p>County Budget/Finance Division Head Brian Swetz said the county publicly sought proposals for that work but likely will post another request because there was only one response.</p><style>
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<div class="metaInfo"><bylineMeta><p>By Jennifer Learn-Andes</p><p>jandes@www.timesleader.com</p></bylineMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><shirttailMeta><p>Reach Jennifer Learn-Andes at 570-991-6388 or on Twitter @TLJenLearnAndes.</p></shirttailMeta></div>

Residents blast proposed Luzerne County tax hike