SUNBURY — The City Council voted Monday to place a 90-day moratorium on a $100 licensing fee some nurses say is “grossly unfair.”
Barbara Hoffman, along with Virginia Mendler, of Shamokin Dam, and Billie Jo Houtz, of Middleburg, confronted the council on tax bills they received May 7 that ordered them to pay a $100 professional licensing fee to the city by June 12. That deadline has now been extended to Sept. 12.
Also charged with the fee are between 250 and 350 insurance agents, lawyers, architects, engineers, doctors, dentists, psychiatrists, psychologists, investment advisers and stock brokers.
The women objected to the fee on the grounds that it is not income-based, and because they say the tax bills were not distributed to all licensed professionals in the city.
“If you’re going to bill some a license fee, it should be anyone who has a professional license,” Houtz said.
Councilman John K. Shipman said letters were sent to city businesses in March asking them to produce a list of all the licensed professionals they employ. Shipman said some replied, some did not, and some replied but with incomplete lists.
Exempted from the tax are beauticians and barbers, Shipman said — on the grounds that they do not classify as professionals, certified public accountants who work only for a company and but do not provide services to the public, and nurses aides.
Hoffman, of Sunbury, also complained that she already pays an occupational assessment tax, as well as a $52 emergency services tax. According to city treasurer Beth Kremer, Hoffman, as a nurse, would pay a total of $527.50 to the city, county and school district in occupational assessment tax. To tack a third tax on top of what Hoffman already pays, the registered nurse said, is unfair.
“The nurses who work at Sunbury hospital are not the highest-paid nurses by any means,” she said.
Said Houtz: “I have my own bills and my own family. To pay more tax because of my profession is not fair.”
The professional licensing fee was originally proposed by city financial consultant Robert Sabatini in 2007. It was approved by the council at the end of that year, but the fee wasn’t enforced until this year.
Shipman said the fee was adopted by the council to raise tax revenue without raising property taxes.
“We’re trying to be fair here. We’re not trying to be punitive about this at all,” Shipman said. “Retail businesses pay mercantile tax; restaurants pay a fee; parking lots pay a fee. Professionals don’t pay any fees.”
Shipman proposed Monday implementing a fee schedule that would exempt those making less than $5,000 a year and require those making between $5,001 and $12,000 to pay 50 percent of the tax, and those making more than $12,000 a year to pay the full $100 fee. “It will be collected,” Shipman said. “The city needs that revenue to close the budget gap.”
The city budgeted about $25,000 in revenue from the fee, Shipman said, and to date has received about $11,000.
News
City postpones $100 licensing fee collection
Nurses call tax unfair
- News
-
-
State House enters second day of debate on gas drilling bill
HARRISBURG — Pennsylvania's House of Representatives is beginning its second day of debate on a bill to impose a fee on natural-gas drilling in Pennsylvania and toughen regulations over the booming industry.
-
Cases involving gas station drug sales advance to Montour County Court
DANVILLE – Three people charged with selling heroin and Oxycotin tablets during two separate transactions at a convenience store lot Jan. 2 will face court action.
-
Danville school options aired with borough council
DANVILLE — After borough officials pledged to work with school officials toward a decision on the flood-damaged middle school, council members voted not to give or sell any farmland it owns. The purpose of the unanimous action by the council Tuesday night was so the district knows that rumored option to move the school won’t happen. The borough owns a farm across from the Danville Primary School.
-
Five watershed projects receive $873,000 in state funding
NORTHUMBERLAND -- Five Valley watershed projects will get nearly $873,000 from the state Department of Environmental Protection, which announced funding for 73 projects to improve watersheds, stormwater runoff, acid mine drainage and educational programs, among other environmental efforts.
-
Dispute turns into gun threat, troopers say
After an argument in which his wife threatened divorce, William Warren Woolsey, 36, grabbed a .22-caliber rifle and told her to meet him in the bedroom, saying he would kill himself, state police at Milton said.
-
Mom allegedly beat toddlers with brush
MIFFLINBURG -- A 22-year-old Mifflinburg mother has been charged with beating her two toddlers with a hairbrush until they bled from abrasions all over their faces and bodies, state police at Milton said. The abuse came to light when Brittany Morgan Sullivan's parents came home and found the wounds on their grandchildren, according to police.
-
Commissioners give disabled Sunburian a chance
SUNBURY -- A 22-year-old disabled man asked the Northumberland County commissioners a life-changing question last week. "Can I have a job?" Giuseppe Bua, of Sunbury, was born with Osteogenesis Imperfecta, a genetic disorder in which bones break easily. Sometimes the bones break for no known reason. The disorder also can cause weak muscles, brittle teeth, a curved spine and hearing loss.
-
Trucking firm to add 25 drivers
MILTON -- The president of Watsontown Trucking Co. said Tuesday that his firm will be hiring 25 truck drivers in addition to several diesel technician and management positions, all due to expansion. President Steve Patton said the company, which has been in the Milton Industrial Park since 2004, bought 14 additional acres in the park, adding 10,000 square feet of office space and maintenance facilities. Construction on the new space, he said, will begin shortly and is targeted to be completed by June.
-
Mayor wants trucks to help fund roads
SUNBURY -- Mayor David Persing is frustrated with truck traffic entering the former Celotex site on North Front Street, and he wants to do something about it. Charge an impact fee. Gas companies have paid millions to repair roads damaged by trucks in the Marcellus shale region, and Persing wants to levy a fee to compensate the city for damage to roads caused by trucks hauling drilling waste through the city. About $25 per truck per visit, he said.
-
18-year-old dies in truck crash on Routes 11-15
LIVERPOOL -- An 18-year old Selinsgrove man was killed when his pickup truck collided with a tractor-trailer on Routes 11-15 in Perry County.
-
Reactions to budget plan mixed
SUNBURY -- Reaction to Gov. Tom Corbett's proposed 2012-2013 budget came from all directions Tuesday.
-
Proposal alters school funding
HARRISBURG -- Gov. Tom Corbett has proposed steady funding for K-12 basic education in his $27.1 billion budget for 2012-13. But how school districts get their money will change as four line items will be combined into one block grant for most basic education funding. That has made for some debate about any actual increase to basic education.
- More News Headlines
-
State House enters second day of debate on gas drilling bill
