About 30 Carbon County residents attended a recent town meeting, hosted by Heritage Hill Senior Community in Weatherly.

The purpose of the meeting Wednesday was to discuss current issues that the area is facing on the municipal, county and state levels. Guest speakers included state Rep. Doyle Heffley; Carbon County Commissioner Wayne Nothstein; Henry Desrosiers, director of the Carbon County Veterans Affairs office; Weatherly Mayor Tom Connors; and Weatherly borough manager Harold Pudliner.Lisa Marie Halecky, marketing and admissions director at Heritage Hill, welcomed everyone to the event. She then introduced Heffley, who thanked everyone for coming and opened the floor to a question-and-answer panel.Residents asked numerous questions, including about the new voter ID law; property taxes; illegal immigration; the cost of living; and pension problems.Heffley said that in regard to voter ID, he is in favor of it because Pennsylvania "needs to protect the integrity of the ballot."He discussed the requirements for the new law and what types of identification are acceptable forms in the upcoming election.Of his position on illegal immigration, Heffley said that illegals are abusing America's laws by taking financial assistance, medical help, jobs and benefits away from citizens."If they are caught, they need to be deported," he said, adding that he feels the federal government is dropping the ball on this issue because they are not implementing strong enough penalties on illegals.Property taxes were the largest issue about which residents were concerned. Many asked what could be done to help the people, especially the senior citizens, because property taxes continue to rise.Heffley said that property taxes are a regional issue, and that Carbon County has one of the highest property taxes in the state. This, combined with an unfair funding formula for the school districts compounds the problem for many residents.He said that he is in favor of any proposal that would eliminate or lower the property tax burden on Pennsylvania residents; but added that school districts also need to control their spending.Another component to the problem, Heffley pointed out, was that the pension fund in education was underfunded for years and now the state and schools must find the money to pay into the fund. This in return, raises taxes.Following Heffley's panel, Nothstein built on some issues on the county level, including the property tax, voter ID requirements, the county population growth, the judicial system, Packerton Yards, the county infrastructure and green energy.In regard to property tax, Nothstein said the formula is based on home sales and their reassessments; but not all school districts appeal the assessments, which then results in unfair balances to the taxes.Also, mortgage foreclosures in the county are up significantly. From January to March 2011, a total of 56 foreclosures occurred. In that same time period in 2012, the number of foreclosures jumped to 102.Nothstein then discussed the population growth in the county over the last 10 years. This growth has caused more criminal cases to occur, he said, and the need for a third judge in the county, as well as additional staffing to handle the higher number of cases going through the courts. As a result, the county is faced with tighter budgets.Residents were curious as to the status of the Packerton Business Park.Nothstein said that the county is going back to Mahoning Township Supervisors again with a new plan, this time adding an asphalt sidewalk from the road through the railroad crosswalk. The sidewalk issue has been one of the main issues holding up the project.Nothstein noted that the county doesn't really want the sidewalk into the business park because officials feel it is a liability for the county; as well as for the railroads that own track on the grounds.Connors and Pudliner addressed the audience briefly, fielding questions on the municipal level.Connors thanked Heffley and the commissioners for strong working relationships that benefit Weatherly.He updated the residents on the Train Works building; as well as the hope for a grocery store in the borough.Derosiers rounded out the panel by explaining that there are many benefits available to veterans and urged them to contact his office, located on the second floor of the Carbon County Courthouse Annex in Jim Thorpe, if they had questions. His phone number is (570) 325-3986.Members of the audience also weighed in on the meeting.Barb Tissier and Jane Wiskoski, both of Weatherly, thought it was interesting and very informative.Theresa D'Andrea, also of Weatherly, said that she thought Rep. Heffley "was very informative and helpful" because "sometimes Weatherly is forgotten."She added that she was also very appreciative of everything Nothstein has done for the community."He never forgot Weatherly and always makes an appearance in the community. We are very appreciative of that," she said.Halecky, one of the organizers, noted that she thought it was a good turnout and that there were a lot of good questions asked that were on the minds of many.This meeting was the first of many in Heffley's outreach program. A number of legislative outreach events have been scheduled throughout Carbon for this month.For more information on dates, times and locations of the upcoming meetings, contact Heffley's offices at Lehighton (610) 377-6363 or Albrightsville (570) 722-8700.