County shoots down rural home tax break

Posted 4/28/10 (Wed)

People building homes in rural Mercer County will not be getting a tax break.

The Mercer County Commission voted to reject a proposed ordinance that would give new homes built in rural Mercer County a five-year exemption on property taxes. Commissioners worried about the impact of the measure on local budgets and services, and that it would put the county in competition with area cities for tax breaks.

Commissioner Frank Bitterman said that the exemption on the first $125,000 of the value of a home would save the builder about $1,468 in taxes each of the five years. He said the break wouldn’t just affect the county budget but would also hit school and fire districts as well. Bitterman said the Beulah School District had expressed concerns to him about the impact of the proposal.