State representatives gathered in Lansford on Wednesday to protest the budget impasse and high property taxes.

Reps. Doyle Heffley, R-Carbon; David Parker, R-Monroe; Jerry Knowles, R-Berks/Carbon/Schuylkill; and Mike Tobash, R-Dauphin/Schuylkill, joined Cass Chies, broker and owner of ReMax Diamond First in Palmerton, and Matthew Marks, the regional government affairs director of Greater Lehigh Valley Realtors.Currently the state has gone over 250 days without a budget in place.The legislators spoke at Kennedy Park about their opposition to Gov. Tom Wolf's proposal, citing neglect of school property tax reform, and $3.6 billion increase in new state taxes.Heffley said the governor is seeking several tax increases including an 11 percent personal tax increase, retroactive to Jan. 1."There is no financial reason to increase people's taxes at this time. We have proven we can operate within our means, without widespread tax increases," Tobash said."We need to get the governor to come to the table and work out the rest of the 17 to 18 percent of the budget. He needs to realize people pay enough taxes. Not everybody's a millionaire. People are struggling to pay for food and housing," Knowles said.Chies spoke of the high tax rates locally."Panther Valley has some of the highest millage. Property taxes here are higher than the mortgages. We need help, we need relief."Marks agreed, "Property taxes are a real issue. People are losing their homes.""This is a serious issue and we need to champion this cause. We're not having sales and rebounding as fast as we expected. This should be the year this area rebounds, but it's not. To see people who have built their dream homes have to sell and walk away, it's very devastating. There has got to be a better way to get funding for schools," said Chies.Marks said, "We don't want seniors losing their homes, or first-time buyers not able to buy homes.""Property taxes are the number one issue facing Carbon County families. The Governors tax increases are not accompanied by dollar for dollar property tax relief," Heffley said.When asked if an increase in minimum wage would help offset the tax increase, Heffley responded, no, saying employers would simply take their businesses and employment opportunities outside the area.Parker was focused on education when he took the podium."We have a new basic education funding formula which clearly shows that 180 school districts are underfunded by a billion dollars. We need to focus on getting those 180 districts to the proper funding level and getting those property taxpayers the relief they deserve. We need the best education system so our economy and companies can compete and grow."Wolf said he is trying to avoid a "train wreck" of a budget that would also drive up local taxes to fill the void of state funding.Wolf has pressed for a tax increase to deliver a record boost in public school aid and to fix a long-term deficit. But a bipartisan plan that had been negotiated by House and Senate Republican leaders stalled before Christmas, and Wolf said Republicans lawmakers have not figured out how to pay for the spending in a plan they sent to him before Christmas."If we don't fix the budget deficit by '16-17, there are going to be huge cuts in education, and huge cuts in local services, so that local taxes are going to go up and services are going to decline," Wolf said last month.