Bethlehem Gets Chance To Turn Tables * With New Computer, Tax
Administrator Finds That Municipalities Owe Income Tax To The
City.  November 08, 1999|by MATT ASSAD, The Morning Call  Seven
months after Bethlehem was hit with a lawsuit for neglecting to
forward $1.5 million in taxes it owed to neighboring
municipalities, it has found that many of those same communities
owe the city.  Thanks to a new computer system that
automatically flags earned income taxes that never reached the
city, the tax office has found $726,000 in misdirected tax
payments dating to 1997 that should have been sent Bethlehem.
Tax administrator Albert Timko estimates he'll find $1.7 million
more in unpaid claims in the coming months.  In fact, Mayor Don
Cunningham is betting on it. His 2000 budget relies on some of
the extra money he expects the tax office to bring in.  "There's
a gold mine out there," Timko said. "Just give me the people,
and I'll go out and find it."  Two more people will be added to
Timko's six-member staff in Januar