Weatherly borough officials will freely admit that they would have to raise taxes or cut services without revenue from the borough's electric company.

But a newly elected representative from Western Pennsylvania says that boroughs that buy electric power and sell it to their residents, like Weatherly and Lehighton, are basically levying an extra tax on residents.There are 35 such municipalities among the 2,600-plus in the state.Rep. Adam Bernstine of Ellwood City has proposed a bill that would prohibit municipalities from using electric money for expenses that don't have to do with providing electricity. He says that residents of those towns are paying unfair prices for electricity because the money is being used in other departments. The bill would give customers other protections, like a chance to challenge their rate in court. It has been referred to the House's local government committee.In response to the bill, Weatherly Mayor Tom Connors is inviting legislators to come to Weatherly and see how the borough's electric company has helped fund services. He decided to send a letter to Rep. Tarah Toohil, a co-sponsor of the bill, and also extended the invitation to Bernstine."I think we should invite the representatives to Weatherly, and sit down and explain why we do things the way we do, and what's going to happen if this moves any farther forward."Connors said it would be "disastrous" for the town if council lost the ability to transfer money from the electric fund."It gives us the streets that we have, the equipment we have, the park that we have," he said. "You couldn't raise taxes enough to compensate the money we make from electric - and yet when you compare it to the rates from PPL, you'd be surprised how good ours are."Weatherly has had only one tax increase in the past 10 years, which is uncommon for any municipality. Connors said the reason Weatherly continues to provide services without raising taxes is that it can use electric fund money.Lehighton also uses money from its Power & Light department to help boost its general fund. Manager Nicole Beckett said it would be a "significant" effect. She also said that the borough's electric customers receive customer service that they wouldn't get from another source."Lehighton is an outstanding community because of what we have, and when they decided to make this move, they did what was best for the community at the time," she said.Bernstine says the bill is aimed at protecting customers who can be subject to fluctuations in cost. The municipal companies change rates each month based on the power that they buy.He called the municipalities "middlemen" who are profiting off their residents."They are a monopoly with zero restriction, and they just use it as a taxation tool. This is a loophole for an additional tax," he said.Bernstine said any property tax increase caused if the bill went into effect would be offset by a drop in the resident's electric bill."This will keep spending in check, you'll be paying less in total. It doesn't matter what the tax is called, you're still paying that to the municipality," he said.Connors said that Bernstine's concerns would be better addressed locally. If he has a problem in Ellwood City, it should be taken care of there, Connors said."They sent an example where there might have been some abuse. Well take care of the abuse there, because there's none here when it comes to the electric and the rates," he said.