Yet another court appearance by members of the Northumberland County Tax Collection Committee could be on the horizon since the committee failed to meet a quorum to hold its monthly meeting Thursday.
Despite the lack of a quorum, a county judge's order issued Dec. 8 allowed committee officers to finalize a contract Thursday with Berkheimer Tax Administrator to become the countywide collector of earned income tax.
The firm will earn 1.75 percent of tax revenue collected.
Ed Greco, committee solicitor, said the lack of a quorum prevented the committee from reorganizing and from setting its meeting dates for 2012.
A special meeting will be scheduled for next month. Whether or not it will actual-
ly be held remains to be seen.
"We are going to try yet another special meeting in January in order to get the delegates there to conduct business or the group will be forced to go to court again to ask the judge to amend the bylaws for quorum determination by weighted vote ... which equates, in my opinion, to wasting more taxpayer money," Stephen Curran, business manager for Shamokin Area and a committee delegate, wrote in an e-mail to The News-Item Friday.
That a quorum wasn't had shouldn't be a surprise. Paula Greco, committee chairwoman and supervisor of Rockefeller Township, said Friday that delegates from some of the smaller bodies said point blank that they'd quit showing up.
"If we do not have a vote, we're not coming," she said of comments made during the meeting.
It's unknown which taxing bodies were absent from the meeting.
The committee of the county's 44 taxing bodies is fractured into two groups.
Six taxing bodies - Shamokin Area, Line Mountain and Milton Area school districts, Shamokin City, Milton borough and Coal Township - took the remaining 38 to court and won when a county judge ruled the committee was in violation of its bylaws and must adhere to weighted voting when making decisions.
Weighted voting would give each taxing body a greater or lesser share of the vote in proportion to its population and tax collections. The defendants had sought that a simple majority, 51 percent, would either carry or deny a proposal.
They also sought a different collector, the nonprofit Capital Tax Collection Bureau, Harrisburg, for the job.
While weighted voting applies, a quorum is met only by simple majority. Curran said in his e-mail that he and like-minded delegates could again go to court to change that.
But the judge's rulings seemingly added to the bitter taste left in the mouths of the 38 bodies who most likely are in agreement that weighted voting stymies their influence.
The committee was formed in 2009 as a result of Act 32, which required formation of tax collection committees in all of Pennsylvania's counties. The act's goal is to make earned income tax collection, distribution and reporting more efficient and uniform.
Paula Greco agreed that the smaller taxing bodies feel left out of the process.
She said weighted voting is applied to Act 32, it fails the smaller entities by taking away their voice, adding that she believes those who didn't show for the meeting have a right to be upset.
"We all wanted to work together," she said. "We acted in good faith.
"Here we are, we can't do anything," she said of the influence of smaller entities.
Curran wrote in his e-mail that the delegates who didn't show for Thursday's meeting didn't provide data sheets and other documentation to Berkheimer, which could hinder collection for their taxing bodies.
Paula Greco disputed his claim, saying the absent delegates would have to turn over the necessary documents to Berkheimer.
Earned income tax is one of the major tax revenue streams for taxing entities, she said, especially the smaller ones.