For the 2017-18 fiscal year the board of the North Hills School District (Ross and West View) voted to raise the property tax millage by 0.2 of a mill, bringing the millage to 18 mills total. Based on a news article on the increase, the average home value in the district is $135,700; applying 18 mills to that value results in a tax bill of $2,442. Based on data from the Department of Education on homestead tax relief from slot machine gaming, the estimated relief per homestead for North Hills in this fiscal year (ending June 30th) was $126–that would lower the tax bill to $2,316 for the $135,700 home.
One member of the board noted that “…the state puts us in a position where we are constantly going back to the taxpayer”. In our analysis of school taxes under Act 1 of 2006 guidelines, North Hills school millage increased each year from 2006-07 to 2012-13, with the exception of 2009-10 when the millage dropped 0.25. After adjusting millage in 2013-14 to comply with reassessed values (17.06) each year since millage has climbed.
As we pointed out in a 2014 Brief on the debate over how Pennsylvania distributed school funds (prior to the creation of the funding formula in 2015) we presented a variety of funding scenarios and North Hills (where a discussion on school funding took place) relative standing on % of budget from the state, dollars per-pupil from the state, and what funding would look like for North Hills if the state were to assume all K-12 funding and gave districts an equal amount per-pupil.
As was noted last week, the proposal to end school property taxes and shift funding to the state through higher personal income and sales taxes while returning the local dollars from property taxes on a dollar for dollar basis has been introduced. This would certainly affect the board of education in North Hills and their role vis a vis the property taxpayer. Of the $16,819 in revenue per-pupil (from 2015-16 data) $12,770 (76%) came from local sources. It would be interesting to know their stance on the proposal.
