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Self-taught Ingram tax collector to retire

Self-taught Ingram tax collector to retire

Joe Eglberger jokingly likens himself to the feared and despised tax collectors of biblical lore. In truth, it is his fondness for people that he finds most satisfying about his work as Ingram's tax collector.

"I love it. I like meeting people," said Eglberger, who will retire at the end of this year just a few days before his 80th birthday.

Eglberger had worked nearly 40 years in the steel industry when he took up tax collecting. He worked in payroll and accounting jobs for both the J&L and LTV Steel companies before retiring in 1986.

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In 1993, he was appointed to the tax collector post when the former tax collector, Anne Russbausom, died. With no one to teach him the local property tax system, Eglberger was left to figure it out on his own. He did, and the next year, he was elected. He has run unopposed for the past three terms.

Despite the availability of technology, Eglberger still manually records payments made on the 1,400 tax statements that are sent out by the county each year. He collects real estate tax from Ingram property owners for both the borough and the Montour School District.

The job has gotten more difficult in recent years. Taxpayers are now allowed to pay their school taxes in installments in August, October and December. Combined with the annual payment of the borough property tax, Eglberger must collect payments and record them into his big black book four times a year instead of two. The recent wave of tax appeals has complicated matters as well.

Eglberger's current term expires in December 2005. It was only at his daughter's urging that the soon-to-be octogenarian opted to retire from his part-time job. Eglberger works in the Ingram tax office on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays.

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"She says it's about time I take it easy and spend some time at her place in the Florida Keys," Eglberger said.

While he may be ready to acquiesce to such a plan, retirement will be an adjustment for Eglberger, who went to work when he was 18 years old.

Because he was in the top 10 percent of his senior class, he was allowed to leave high school in April 1942 to enlist in the Army, even before he was scheduled to graduate. He remained stateside throughout World War II and returned to Pittsburgh in 1945, where he attended a two-year program at Robert Morris Business College.

He has lived in Ingram since 1955, where he and his wife, Lorraine, raised three children. He was active for many years in CIT baseball and is a member of the Ingram Ambulance Authority board of directors.

Eglberger works the local bingos two nights a week, and does both bookkeeping and administrative work for the Church of the Ascension, where he attends Mass daily.

"Oh, I couldn't loaf," Eglberger said with a laugh.

Ingram council has appointed Mike Steele to a one-year term as tax collector beginning in January. The borough councilman will relinquish his council seat to accept the job as tax collector.

First Published: October 27, 2004, 4:00 a.m.

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