Lehighton is a final holdout for the $52 services tax that other area municipalities had adopted several years ago.

That changes for 2014.The borough council plans to adopt an ordinance at its Nov. 25 meeting enacting the local services tax.The new tax will replace the current $10 occupational privilege tax.If adopted as advertised, exempt will be residents earning less than $12,000 per year and honorably discharged veterans with a military connected disability.The tax will be collected by the employer. It will apply to individual working in Lehighton borough.Self-employed individuals will have to also pay the tax.The tax is expected to generate $82,000 per year for the borough and will be utilized for "police, fire, and/or emergency services and/or road construction and/or maintenance."The Local Services Tax was approved by state legislators in 2007.After the legislators approved the tax, most area municipalities passed it. Lehighton officials, however, retained their $10 occupational tax and declined to enact the $52 tax.For residents working in more than one municipality or who have more than one job, the tax is paid only once.A copy of the ordinance is available for viewing at the Lehighton Municipal Building.