How much is it worth to you to have Bridgeville’s public works department fixing roads or the Bridgeville Police Department handling public safety?
Would you care if the Bridgeville sold the borough building and began sharing office space with Collier or South Fayette?
What if all of that meant lower taxes for you?
Borough council begin should start exploring ways to partner with surrounding communities to lower operating costs, said outgoing mayor Pat DeBlasio is his final report to council earlier this month shortly after council voted to raise real estate taxes.
Although he credited council for efforts to minimize the impact that the 2018 tax raise will have on residents, DeBlasio said that council should focus on addressing the core problem — the cost of operating a government that serves 5,250 people.
“We have great services,” he said. “I’m not disparaging those services. But it’s an expensive structure.”
DeBlasio did not single out any one expense as exorbitant or unnecessary. Simply running a government is expensive, he said, and it’s going to remain expensive if Bridgeville continues to operate the same way.
At 10 mills for land and 6.5 mills for buildings, Bridgeville Borough’s real estate tax rate is higher than that of South Fayette, Upper St. Clair or Collier.
The land tax is higher than Carnegie, Dormont, or the City of Pittsburgh, although Bridgeville’s tax on buildings is lower than in those communities/