The Allentown Diocese will pay less property tax on the former St. Joseph's Catholic Church and rectory in Girardville and the adjacent site of the former Immaculate Heart Elementary School.

County commissioners on Wednesday agreed to reduce the fair market value of the church building and rectory from $266,306 to $79,000.The site of Immaculate Heart Elementary School had its assessed value reduced from $24,691 to $12,000.The properties were tax-exempt while being used for religious purposes. St. Joseph's was closed last year when the diocese merged five churches in Ashland, Girardville and Gordon into one parish, St. Charles Borromeo, based in Ashland.The merger was part of the diocese's 2008 plan to restructure and consolidate churches in light of a shortage of priests.The school was closed in 2006 and the building razed in 2013.The reductions came after "extensive negotiations, and based upon expert appraisal reports of the diocese," according to county solicitor Glenn Roth Jr.In other tax assent matters, commissioners approved a settlement of the objection to the upset sale held on Sept. 28, 2015, of a Ridge Road, West Penn Township, property owned by Mary T. and Joseph M. Igielski of Secane, Delaware County.Also on Wednesday, commissioners approved 2016 funding for Penn State Extension agricultural programs, including 4-H.The consumer horticulture contract totals $31,910; the 4-H youth services contract, $60,115; and the commercial horticulture contract, $30,000.The state's 4-H programs are in jeopardy due to Gov. Tom Wolf's line-item veto of $50.5 million for the state's agricultural programs.