Articles Put Mt. Lebanon in Positive Light

There were two articles related to Mt. Lebanon over the weekend that I found in the Tribune-Review.

First was this article, "Walking Communities on the Rise in Pennsylvania" from Sunday's paper. This article talks about the demand for having walking communities, especially for those older than 60.  According to the article there is a waiting list 40 people deep for 58 townhomes being built at McCandless Crossing, a 130 acre development off McKnight Road.  The South Side Flats are seeing even more demand for residential where the developer plans to create an additional 1000 units on top of the 87 that exist today.

My take on this is that, despite a tough economy, if you build the right project, there will be demand for the property.  Perhaps giving TIF money to a developer for a project to build high-end condos was not the right move, but, assuming the lesson was learned, there appear to be at least two, maybe three places where Mt. Lebanon has an opportunity to capitalize on the trends outlined in this article.  With the Bower Hill/Washington Rd development seemingly derailed for the time being, maybe it is time to hammer out a different agreement.  It seems like the Kossman property is in about the same state.  The other project that this seems to make a lot of sense for is for the TRID project or "air rights" over our T stop.

These three locations appear to be the best opportunity we have as a community to find new revenues for both our municipal and school district budgets.  While Mt. Lebanon is already known as a "walkable community" the plans outlined in this article suggest more mixed-use development (residential/retail/commercial) would put a little twist on the traditional walkability of our town.

The second article appeared as the lead in the Weekend Edition of the Trib.  "Doing Without: Falling property values, lack of growth put tax revenue pinch on many towns".  This article gives a nice roundup of where each municipality in Allegheny County ended up with their millage changes for 2011.  It details how many of the municipalities, understanding their resident's inability to dig deeper for more tax payments, decided instead to cut services to avoid tax increases.  From the article:

Seventeen communities, including Castle Shannon, Fox Chapel, Homestead and Penn Hills, raised taxes. Three -- Chalfant, Liberty and Mt. Lebanon -- lowered them.
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Decreasing property values, a slowdown in spending and a lack of population growth all translate to lowered tax revenue.
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Mt. Lebanon plans to implement a $5 to $6 per month per-dwelling fee to pay for operation and maintenance costs related to draining and flooding problems but reduced property taxes from 4.89 to 4.76 mills by cutting the budget for its street reconstruction program from $1.8 million to $1 million, saving on health care costs and refinancing four bonds, said Marcia Taylor, finance director and assistant manager.

It seems like municipalities understand the significance of falling revenues.  Falling earned income tax receipts reflect an inability of residents to fork over more money for maintaining existing levels of services.  These municipalities, including Mt. Lebanon, have turned to cuts in service (like less street paving) to offset the dwindling revenue.  While I understand there was some controversy to the plan to reduce millage, the move did put some much needed positive light on the current Mt. Lebanon tax situation.

James