Wednesday, February 27, 2008
Act 1, Take Two
As you recall, last year taxpayers across the state voted on whether to increase local income taxes in order to pay for school property tax relief under Act 1 of 2006. The shift passed in just a few districts. However, the other pieces of Act 1, notably the rate at which school spending can increase before triggering a taxpayer referendum, is still in place.
Here’s basically how it works: the state designs a composite index that governs how high a school tax increase can be. The index ranges from 3 to 6 percent or so across the state. Given the index, districts can design a course of action:
• They can pass a resolution stating that for the coming school year they will not exceed the index (this does not prevent a tax increase less than the index).
• If the district does exceed the index and it shows no sign of abating, they can appeal to the state for an exception to the referendum requirement, or submit the increase to the district’s voters for an up or down decision in a ballot referendum.
Last year 10 of the 43 school districts in Allegheny County received referendum exceptions. Presumably that carries over to this year. We do know that each district has seen its adjusted index increase over the 2007-08 school year. Some districts are up 1.7 or 1.6 percentage points. Many are in the 1.2 to 1 percentage point range. The smallest increase is a 0.2 point bump in the Riverview School District.
Districts will have more leeway this year before they get to the requirement for a referendum or an exception. For instance, Pittsburgh has an 2008-09 index of 5.4% (up from 4.2% in 2007-08). At its current real estate millage of 13.9, Pittsburgh’s school taxes could increase up to 14.6 mills without seeking an exception or going to the voters. That’s the case with the other districts as well.
Follow up blog entries will cover referendum exceptions and the districts that have passed “no increase” resolutions as soon as that data becomes available.
Here’s basically how it works: the state designs a composite index that governs how high a school tax increase can be. The index ranges from 3 to 6 percent or so across the state. Given the index, districts can design a course of action:
• They can pass a resolution stating that for the coming school year they will not exceed the index (this does not prevent a tax increase less than the index).
• If the district does exceed the index and it shows no sign of abating, they can appeal to the state for an exception to the referendum requirement, or submit the increase to the district’s voters for an up or down decision in a ballot referendum.
Last year 10 of the 43 school districts in Allegheny County received referendum exceptions. Presumably that carries over to this year. We do know that each district has seen its adjusted index increase over the 2007-08 school year. Some districts are up 1.7 or 1.6 percentage points. Many are in the 1.2 to 1 percentage point range. The smallest increase is a 0.2 point bump in the Riverview School District.
Districts will have more leeway this year before they get to the requirement for a referendum or an exception. For instance, Pittsburgh has an 2008-09 index of 5.4% (up from 4.2% in 2007-08). At its current real estate millage of 13.9, Pittsburgh’s school taxes could increase up to 14.6 mills without seeking an exception or going to the voters. That’s the case with the other districts as well.
Follow up blog entries will cover referendum exceptions and the districts that have passed “no increase” resolutions as soon as that data becomes available.
