Budget cuts hit rural Pennsylvania hardest, according to state Rep. Rick Mirabito, D-Williamsport, and are a big reason he supports both an impact fee and a severance tax on natural gas drilling.
Mirabito, speaking to Williamsport Rotary Monday at the Genetti Hotel, said slashes to education hit the local area particularly hard.
"A severance tax would be a better way to provide for Pennsylvania's needs such as education," he said.
The lawmaker said the 2011 budget not only was hard on rural areas but on the state's large elderly population and businesses.
Mirabito revealed a chart for household incomes and costs per student.
In Lycoming County, for example, the median income is $41,737 and just $28,292 in Williamsport.
Those numbers are below the statewide median income of $49,837, according to the lawmaker's figures.
Some of the highest incomes can be found in suburban Philadelphia where the median income is as high as $112,640 in Bucks County.
Why do those numbers mean?
Mirabito said Radnor School District, one of wealthiest in the state, absorbed cuts of just $39 per student.
In the Williamsport Area School District, it meant cuts of $652 per student.
Unfortunately, he said, the fixed costs for running school districts don't change.
With less money coming from the state and federal governments to make up the losses, rural and poorer school districts are left in a bind, which puts a greater strain on property owners faced with paying school real estate taxes.
"I am very concerned with issues of tax equity," he said.
Toward that end, he called for closing the Delaware loophole, which allows companies in the state to legally escape paying taxes here, and requiring Internet businesses to pay their fair share of state taxes.
Mirabito also said the state needs not only an impact fee but also a severance tax, a source of revenue he repeatedly has supported.
He noted a severance tax is one imposed by the state for the extraction of natural resources, while an impact fee is a charge imposed on any industrial project as compensation for any negative social, environmental or other effect.
The state, he said, is the only one of 38 states with natural gas resources not imposing a severance tax.
Mirabito emphasized he is not anti-drilling.
Natural gas provides a sustainable economic base for rural communities as well as an alternative form of energy to foreign resources, he said.
"We have to be honest with ourselves that we are consuming a huge amount of energy," he said.
At the same time, he said extraction of natural gas has to be done responsibly.
He referred to the state Constitution, which he said gives people the right to clean air and water and the preservation of the environment.
It's important to note, he added, that while there are economic benefits to natural gas, many communities also must bear the burden of providing ever-increasing services and infrastructure needs that come with the growing industry.
Mirabito said in considering issues he weighs what's best for rural Pennsylvania.
The lawmaker, who represents the 83rd House District, declined to reveal his plans for re-election.
Harry Rogers has announced he will run in the Republican primary for the seat.
