Article Photos

BEDFORD - Old Bedford Village Executive Director Roger Kirwin traded in his Revolutionary War reenactment costume for a business suit Thursday morning, pleading with county leaders to rescind an $18,000 property tax put on the living history museum earlier this year.

No decision was made by Commissioners Gary Ebersole or Steve Howsare after the brief hearing at the Bedford County Courthouse. Commissioners' Chairman Michael Herline was absent from the proceeding.

The $17,895.52 tax is not related to the ongoing reassessment process in the county but is a result of the village's participation in a Keystone Opportunity Zone that expired in the spring.

Attorney Myron Markovitz, the village's attorney, gave Ebersole, Howsare and Chief Assessor Melissa Stultz tax-exemption letters from the Internal Revenue Service and state Department of Revenue as well as the village's Articles of Incorporation, detailing the museum's status as a nonprofit organization and its listing as a historical museum from the Pennsylvania Historical Society.

Howsare said he expected a decision in two to three weeks.

"To me, it was just more of a formality," he said of the hearing.

The site must meet six criteria in Pennsylvania to be considered tax-exempt, including advancing a charitable purpose and operating entirely free from private profit motive.

Kirwin was cautiously optimistic after the hearing.

"I think we have an exceptionally strong case," he said. "I also think it's unfortunate it's come this far."

The "principal tourist attraction in the county" educates about 6,000 grade-school children annually, part of more than 25,000 visitors to drive across the museum's covered bridge each year and spend about $2 million in the county, Kirwin said.

"So much hinges on this decision," Kirwin said.

The village, established in 1976, currently employs 15 people and thrives on its huge volunteer base. The site is still pulling itself out of a large debt from the 1980s and '90s.

"It is a slow and precarious process, requiring sound financial and management techniques," Kirwin said. "The present financial fragility of Old Bedford Village cannot be overemphasized."

Mirror Staff Writer Wendy McCardle Zook is at 946-7520.