Elder-Care Facilities Seek Tax Exemption

Tough economic times might get tougher for some municipalities and school districts if officials from local elder-care facilities win their battles to stop paying real estate taxes.

In Allegheny County, the Mt. Lebanon and Chartiers Valley school districts are appealing decisions by the Allegheny County Board of Assessment Appeals that exempted Asbury Health Center in Mt. Lebanon and the Baptist Home Society in Scott Township from paying property taxes.

The exemption would cost the Mt. Lebanon district about $11,000 of its $73.3 million budget and the Chartiers Valley District more than $16,000 from its $47.8 million plan.

Link: www.pittsburghlive.com/x/valleyindependent/teenscene/s_605603.html

Asbury Heights Marks 100 Years

When Frances Campbell Hamilton, with the help of the Pittsburgh Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church, created a home for 18 elderly men and women in Dravosburg in 1908, she probably never imagined it growing into a 26-acre campus that would eventually become home to more than 500 people.

But Mrs. Hamilton's generosity and her compassion for older adults started the institution that today is Asbury Heights on Bower Hill Road in Mt. Lebanon.

Yesterday, Asbury Heights, a continuing care community encompassing independent and assisted living arrangements and skilled nursing and dementia units, celebrated its centennial.

Link: www.post-gazette.com/pg/08269/914730-55.stm