There may be a rare sighting of school district taxpayers getting a say at the ballot box on a possible school tax increase. In the northeast corner of Pennsylvania residents in the Riverside School District (Lackawanna County) may be able to vote on a proposed 3.9% property tax increase.
Under Act of 1 of 2006 the state gives each school district an annual index, which serves as a ceiling on how high taxes could increase in that year. The district can increase taxes to or below the cap without any special provision. If it needs to go above the index, it can either petition the state Department of Education for an exception or put the increase to the voters. As we pointed out on several occasions, there have been very few of these referenda since Act 1 has been in force.
The irony is that voters could defeat the increase in the referendum but, as the article points out, taxes might still be raised up to the index amount.
