Secretary of Revenue Gregory C. Fajt held a press conference yesterday in Altoona to address concerns about property tax reduction and to urge school boards to opt in to Act 72, The Homeowner Tax Relief Act, by the May 30 deadline.
Tyrone Mayor Patricia Stoner and Altoona Mayor Thomas C. Martin were on hand to welcome the secretary to Blair County.
In a prepared released Fajt said, “Pennsylvania’s homeowners want property tax relief. But homeowners will only receive property tax relief if their school board agrees to participate by the May 30 deadline.”
Information provided by the state’s Department of Revenue said the average Blair County household will save $219 a year in property taxes under the property tax relief law that Governor Rendell signed in July.
The information also stated homeowners in the Tyrone School District will get a $250 reduction in property taxes each year. In Bellwood-Antis the figure is estimated at $272.
The Department of Revenue said property tax relief will begin once gaming generates $900 million; enough for a $400 million reserve fund and at least $500 million for property tax relief. Fajt said The PA Gaming Control Board, of which he is an ex-officio member, is moving towards awarding licenses. The Department of Revenue says casino license fees alone will bring in $610 million in revenue.
“When gaming is fully implemented, it will generate $1 billion each year for property tax relief,” said Secretary Fajt. “The revenue estimates on which the property tax cut figures are based were done by the Department of Revenue. They are solid, conservative and achievable.”
Fajt also noted Governor Rendell had scheduled a teleconference for later on Tuesday to address issues raised by the Act 72 legislation. (See separate story on page 2.)
At his Altoona appearance, Secretary Fajt said the figure is now at 75 percent of homeowners statewide signing up for the program. Last week, Tyrone Area School officials said the figure was 54 percent for the district.
Tyrone officials have said they have concerns about the program including how the district, which is comprised of residents from three counties, will deal with the issue of equalizing taxes for property owners and still comply with the legal aspects of the new legislation. The district has stated it believes it could be put in the position of breaking one law in order to abide by another. Tyrone is required to equalize taxes among the homeowners in Blair, Centre and Huntingdon County.
Districts which opt into the tax relief program can only raise taxes on properties based on a yearly inflation index. Tyrone Area’s business administrator Cathy Peachey explained the district has to equalize the mills in the counties by law and that could exceed the index without raising taxes.
“Just equalizing our mills would put us in the situation where we would exceed that yearly rate increase and have to have a referendum, not to have additional revenues, but just to equalize the mills,” said Superintendent Dr. William N. Miller. “The voters could turn it down.”
Peachey explained the whole concept of equalization is based on changes in the market value of properties among the three counties.
Miller said the administration would be opposed to “opting in” if the issue of equalization is not addressed. He said the inflation index should not be applied before equalization. He said if the equalization issue is not resolved it would be “untenable.”
During his Altoona appearance, Secretary Fajt noted there were 10 exceptions school districts could apply to escape having to have a referendum. He also said he wasn’t sure how districts which have to deal with equalization would be affected. He reiterated the amount the Tyrone taxpayers could be expected to save regardless of which county their property is located.
“To go out there and look at this bill and say if we do this, this is going to happen (in regards to the equalization concern), I don’t know whether that’s accurate,” said Fajr. “…I’m not sure exactly what their (Tyrone Area’s) understanding of the bill is.”
Fajt said there are myths associated with Act 72 which have caused a lot of confusion among school districts.
He said in at least one case, information which had gone out to clear up issues hadn’t been “recirculated” to board members.
“People are making accusations, people are making comments and we can’t do anything unless we know about them,” said Fajt. “If they would call us and bring it to our attention we’ll get an answer for them.”
Meanwhile, Dr. Miller and his counterpart at Bellwood-Antis, Superintendent Brian Toth have also noted a “moral” concern regarding using funding generated by gambling to benefit public education.
Fajt said he realized school board members may have moral concerns but should vote for what’s best for their district. He said a member, on a personal level, could then decline to receive the tax reduction regarding their own property if they are morally opposed to benefiting from gambling revenues.
A meeting to allow the public a chance to hear more about Act 72 and have questions answered has been organized by area school districts. The meeting is scheduled for 7 p.m. on Thursday at Roosevelt Junior High School auditorium located at 1501 7th Avenue in Altoona.
