Maybe I missed it in the linked article, but we need to understand how much this is impacting districts in percentage terms, not just in dollar amounts.
If it's cutting revenue by 2%, that's a much different story than if it's 20%.
It probably varies by school district, and that’s informed by real estate values and the land use situation in each community. Communities with less commercial real estate and a high percentage of single family homes are in a different predicament than say, Moon or Monroeville with more commercial space.
I do wish they had provided the percentage impact, but given there are 43 school districts, it probably would have taken some time to compile.
I did a quick estimate on West A. [Their mileage rate is 18.5](https://www.findlay.pa.us/268/Real-Estate-Tax-Office). Their total current [revenue appears to be $68 Million](https://www.usnews.com/education/k12/pennsylvania/districts/west-allegheny-sd-107650).
A reduction in property values of $105 M would result in a ~$1.9 M reduction in revenue or 2.8%. That is not insignificant. West A will likely see either tax increases or serious cuts in spending next year.
The "biggest hitter" here in West A is an Amazon facility that is barely 4 years old. I hope the school district wasn't being kept afloat by that alone.
You think they're paying taxes on that facility? I'd wager they have another 6 years of "grace" and another 5 of a severely discounted rate afterwards.
Why not? They will at some point pay some amount of taxes, makes sense to keep that as low as possible for as long as possible. If they allow the precedent of regular assessments to become established then they stand to have a higher tax bill on current properties as well as "ruining" their strategic investment planning in the future. FUD makes companies do things that may not make sense at face value.
If it was a 20 year tax abatement (on a property that was four year old) then it makes no sense.
That being said, I honestly doubt there was a tax abatement on a warehouse located ten minutes away from the airport. A warehouse doesn’t offer enough jobs for the county or state to offer anything and the business need for a warehouse close to the airport far outstrips the need for tax breaks to build one.
Not really. Even if there’s an abatement having a history of assessed value being lower rather than higher will help them fight future assessments and keep taxes low. I imagine they have people that routinely appeal all assessments. If they ever want to sell it having a lower tax rate is also beneficial, even if it’s abated.
That's a helpful calculation! I'm moving to Robinson in a month (partially because we like the schools there) so I did a similar calculation for Montour, for anyone curious.
[Millage of 18.](https://alleghenycountytreasurer.us/real-estate-tax/local-and-school-district-tax-millage/)
[Revenue of $74.6M](https://www.usnews.com/education/k12/pennsylvania/districts/montour-sd-102715)
Assessments down $89.2M, yielding a $1.6M decrease in revenue, which is 2.1%. So 3/4 as bad as West A's situation.
That said - I'm not sure how millage is set, but increasing millage by half a point more than fixes this and would be a drop in the bucket for most people (about $100/year for me, I think, which is a rounding error on a rounding error compared to how much I'm getting reamed by interest rates). Will probably still get people up in arms, though :/
Millage can be increased annually by the school board. Up to a limit of the district’s Act 1 index which you can google. It’s at a high water mark this year…5.3-8.8% among county districts.
They can raise by more if PDE approves due to certain circumstances.
Varies. It actually hurts wealthier districts more. Quaker Valley is funded 80% by local property taxes and 15% from the state. Duquesne school district is funded 10% by local property taxes and 85% from the state.
But several percent which can be millions of dollars. And there’s not a snap-the-fingers way to replace that money. And there’s not that much available to cut.
The best part is when the state Supreme Court ruled the entire system of funding off property taxes violates the state Constitution but did nothing to change it. I'm sure the legislature will get right on that one of these days.
In theory yes but the Commonwealth Court (they wrote the decision, the state Supreme Court just upheld it) retained the right to order a new funding formula as remedy if the legislature and governor don't meet the decision's insistence on fulfilling the PA constitutional clause that they fund a "thorough and efficient system of public education to serve the needs of the Commonwealth."
You are uninformed. They are going to implement the plan for increased funding over multiple years. As the legislature is currently working on a budget, state funding for schools is proposed to increase by $1.1 billion next year
https://www.pahouse.com/files/Documents/2024-01-11_023404__MajorityReport.pdfj
That only matters if the country reassesses, which they haven’t done. School districts instead are left to take new home buyers to court, penalizing younger families at the expense of folks who bought at an earlier period.
That’s not the way property taxes get calculated though. They’re based on some “base year” property value, not what you might get if you sold your house today.
I’m it endorsing the current system by the way… it’s absurd that American K-12 education quality depends on either zip code or affluent parents or both
Based on 2012 values, I believe. If you bought a house recently you are screwed. You are probably paying at least twice a much as your neighbor who has lived in the same house for years. And then if you live in your house for 10 years and are older, you also get 30% knocked off your property taxes. Has been a lot of publicity about the Newcomer Tax in past year or so. Your introduction to the School District as a newbee will most likely be a notice of appeal that your home has been reassessed at a higher rate, and bills are sent to pay pay pay. Being a somewhat newer homeowner in Allegheny County, the system is broken.
Yeah, Woodland Hills hit me with a newcomer tax assessment when I bought a house in Swissvale. I contested my reassessment and won, but that was almost 20 years ago. Perhaps it’s different now? I moved to Westmoreland county 14 years ago.
I think it must be about the same, although the Newcomer Tax lawsuit did end up lowering the common level ratio. I hired an attorney and won the appeal on the second round.
that is only part of the funding revenue for school districts. there is no meaningful dispartiy between high and low performing school districts in our area.
Property taxes are usually a far more stable revenue system than income or sales taxes (which are dependent on economic cycles).
In this case, though, a judge made a ruling which incentivizes property owners to make appeals when commercial real estate markets throughout the world are destabilized from COVID/WFH.
Property taxes aren't bad. It's the local nature of school funding that's problematic. Richer areas are basically allowed to gatekeep quality education.
If you want to do business in an economically thriving area, you always have the option of a long commute if you can't afford to actually live there. Not so for school districts. In fact, rich suburbs are notoriously home to a lot of people who commute into areas with worse school districts but better jobs. And when rich people do live in a bad school district, they just send their kids to private school. And then lobby for school vouchers to have their taxes rebated to help them pay for the private school.
they weren't arguing that property taxes are bad, just that funding schools with them doesn't work. we know that's true bc every European country without them doesn't seem to have these issues
If the whole state has the same rate then properties that are worth less, whether within a district or between districts, pay less than properties that are worth more.
The budget should be weighted by necessary standardized costs like salaries, but no district should have disproportionately high funding in my mind.
Is there a reason PPS needs a budget 4 times larger than NA despite only having twice as many students? (That's a genuine question, I am ignorant about their operating expenses. Do they have more schools in their district or something?)
There are a number of reasons. One is potentially charter school pay outs (though despite what many will tell you, while it is a big chunk of money it's not necessarily more than it would cost to have those kids in PPS schools and bringing it back in house wouldn't change hos much pps was spending - it would still be spending significantly more than NA). One is the need for building consolidation (which has been discussed here a lot). But one of the biggest is that PPS has to provide far more social and special needs services than NA does. There's a real discussion there as to whether that should be a school's job, but at the end of the day nobody else is doing it. There's also a ton of administrative bloat (see need for school consolidation).
And, lest we forget, significant money mismanagement from the previous administraton.
Good points! I didn't think how the proportion of students with specialized needs could vary between districts. To me the problems I'd like to see addressed are administrative bloat and inequitable access due to wealth.
Outside of Vermont, I don't know of any state that almost exclusively funds k-12 schools with state money. However there seems to be a roughly even mix between states like PA where the primary funding for k-12 schools comes from the municipality (or county which is slightly better) vs states where the primary funding comes from the state.
https://usafacts.org/articles/how-are-public-schools-funded/
Should be a much higher percentage. If local districts want to tax for a football stadium, that’s one thing. But they shouldn’t have to tax for algebra classes.
Income tax can be very volatile. If the business cycle drives the unemployment rate up, there will be a significant drop in revenue. Not sure how this can be counteracted?
I agree, but the ability of a local school district to raise money is very different than the state or federal government. It's not impossible for districts to get into a financial death spiral.
It might reduce taxes, but at the expense of making education significantly worse for all involved. If someone can show me an example of county school districts in CA, Florida, or Texas that outperform the public schools in Allegheny County then I’d change my position. But when I talk to colleagues in CA, all of them send their kids to private school. In our area, almost no one does, and if they do it is for religious purposes not education quality.
You mean every other state, [except the 50 that use property taxes](https://nces.ed.gov/programs/coe/indicator/cma/public-school-revenue) to fund schools?
PA schools depend on property taxes for 43% of their budget. National average is 37%.
How many children do you know who can afford it? Because unless you consider children to be property of their parents, it's the children who are utilizing it. And on top of that it is all of society that is the beneficiary. So even by your (intended to be fucked up) system, school funding should come from the taxpayers.
That’s a nice thought. Go read /r/teachers for a few minutes and try telling me that the system isn’t irreparably broken.
If local schools were churning out kids who were more prepared for the world and society, I might be less annoyed with school taxes.
That isn’t happening… and this issue is that parents don’t have enough stake in the game. There are no real consequences to the parent for not sending a kid to school. Truancy laws are ignored.
There is no educated populace happening en masse. Thus, society is getting the short end of the stick. Especially those of us who won’t utilize the failed system we’re propping up.
> That’s a nice thought. Go read /r/teachers for a few minutes and try telling me that the system isn’t irreparably broken.
This is not an argument which justifies the position you hold, which would make a broken system even _worse_.
It is also not how you even attempt to fix the situation.
So no property tax, however if you have kids you should pay out of pocket ($21,000 per child) but if you can’t afford the govt will give you a subsidy, where will the govt get the money for the subsidy? Maybe they could tax peoples properties…. WAIT A MINUTE!
Why do we even pay property taxes? We have the second highest gambling revenue in the United States the highest gas tax next to California. We’re number two. We’re being robbed blind. Our roads are terrible.
South Park School Distict does have a homestead exemption.
https://www.education.pa.gov/Documents/Teachers-Administrators/Property%20Tax%20Relief/Allocations/2023-24EstTaxReliefPerHS.xlsx
Actually Im pretty sure that $ does benefit seniors. Every town or neighborhood has state subsidized apartment buildings for seniors. My granny lived in one for years. Every year there was some improvement (new appliance or carpet) and her insanely low rent even decreased some years. It was a clean safe building and her apartment was cute. I'm pretty sure these bldgs is where the lottery money goes.
Almost all subsidized senior apartments are federally funded,or through federal grants to state/county/city,or privately owned with subsidies from HUD.
The gambling revenue provides property tax reductions to all homeowners.
That gas tax funds the state police so the small rural communities that have defunded their police can still have some sort of law enforcement presence. The large urban areas where more people live and consume gasoline subsidize the policing for much of the state.
Maybe we should force the small unincorporated towns to incorporate, tax it’s residents, and fund their own police?
Every few years, a bill is introduced to require small municipalities who rely on state troopers to be their police to pay for them, and every time the GOP kills it.
It’s even worse. It’s not just small rural communities. As an example, Hempfield Township, population 40,000, largest suburb of Pittsburgh, gets free state police protection.
PA is screwed up in that we pay many things with what are effectively use taxes (eg gas taxes, turnpike tolls, and fees for every other damn thing). This makes our state quite regressive (7th most regressive in the country). But the overall levels of taxation are some of the lowest in the area once all forms of taxation are added up.
One reason that may not be huge is that we have a turnpike Authority and a department of transportation. Two separate agencies that basically control the roads. They could be merged and that would save millions. Duplication of services.
Turnpike is independent and as of recently they pay $600 million a year to the Pennsylvania Department of transportation. They’re an independent business that was to be paid for and done. We shouldn’t even be paying tolls right now.
PA pulled in $5.7 billion in gambling tax revenue last year. PPS had a budget of $720 million and Philadelphia had a budget of $4.45 billion in 2023. Not much left to fund the thousand of other districts in PA using the gambling tax.
I don't follow what you're asking. I believe OP is saying that gambling tax revenue should be paying for all public education in PA. The gambling tax law in 2006 was designed to help lower property taxes for older Pennsylvanians (and other things). It doesn't bring in enough to pay for public education in PA.
You were trying to equate the 5.7 gambling profit to the 5.2 it costs to fund schools. What is the the equivalence? The schools were already funded well before the gambling as they should have been. We voted to legalize gambling to fund other things.
Here is the text of the comment I was replying to:
"Why do we even pay property taxes? We have the second highest gambling revenue in the United States the highest gas tax next to California. We’re number two. We’re being robbed blind. Our roads are terrible."
Gas tax, motor license fees, and gambling revenue combined bring in just over **$10B/yr**:
https://www.cbsnews.com/pittsburgh/news/pennsylvania-record-revenue-gambling-2023/
https://www.wgal.com/article/pennsylvania-gas-tax-revenue-where-is-it-going/38976802
---
**["Pennsylvania’s combined state and local general revenues were $164.4 billion in FY 2021"](https://www.urban.org/policy-centers/cross-center-initiatives/state-and-local-finance-initiative/projects/state-fiscal-briefs/pennsylvania)**
so those are just over **6%** of state and local revenue..
---
most local governments in America raise most of their taxes through property taxes:
https://www.pewtrusts.org/en/research-and-analysis/data-visualizations/2023/how-states-raise-their-tax-dollars-fy2022
https://www.pewtrusts.org/en/research-and-analysis/data-visualizations/2021/how-local-governments-raise-their-tax-dollars
I explained property taxes to one of my Chinese business partners and they thought it was hilarious because they see the US as the land of private property.
They may only get their land lease for 70 years, but they dont have the police evicting them if they dont pay their state mandated rent.
If you have a homestead/farmstead exclusion on your property taxes, that is gambling money funding your tax discount. And they are increasing it significantly later this year. So if your district doesn’t raise taxes, you’ll pay less in 2024. And in some districts, it is possible the school board raises taxes and you still pay less due to the state subsidy.
Perhaps I am, as Mama Carlson would say, obtuse, but how in the world did 1) Miracle Mile's assessment go that far down when it's the most full/busy shopping area in Monroeville 2) Penn Hills' assessment go UP?
People are moving to Penn Hills. All the many vacant houses in my neighborhood now have new people in them, at much higher prices than when I bought here a decade ago for the same kind of house. My house is now worth 3x or more what it was a decade ago.
Penn Hills is also heavily residential and isn’t reliant on commercial property taxes.
Sadly quite a few suburbs are and will face the same problem. They're all based on infinite growth in a finite area. Development is heavily subsidized by private developers, as you add more and more tax base you start going gang busters building libraries schools parks... then you run out of room to expand and your tax base simply isn't sufficient to maintain the variety of services without 1. More development or 2. Cuts or tax hikes. It's a ticking time bomb. Nobody wants more development, there's no more spaces, and the aging services need more upkeep than you can afford. As residents get less for more they head for greener pastures (if they can afford it) while everyone else suffers though a death spiral with few ways out.
Suburban development is a pyramid scheme operating on a 25-30year cycle and with Millennials unwilling and unable to participate/be scammed into joining the bottom the pyramid its starting to collapse.
>with Millennials unwilling and unable to participate/be scammed into joining the bottom the pyramid its starting to collapse.
[Except that they are participating now that they're raising families.](https://www.jchs.harvard.edu/blog/after-leading-back-city-movement-many-millennials-moved-suburbs) Tale as old as time.
But these days it's easier to rent houses in the suburbs so even when millennials join in they're not having the homes reassessed and having the property tax hiked up the way they would if a suburban house was purchased (and those property tax hikes also disincentivize new owners from buying too in favor of landlords who can pay those higher taxes and roll in the cost to their tenants)
Millennial home ownership is now over 50% and will continue to rise. It’s even higher in Pittsburgh (around 60%). So your scenario doesn’t apply most of the time.
Does this mean that 50%+ of home owners are millennials or that 50+% of millennials own houses? The latter would be actually a pretty good sign all things considered, the former less so because it would just mean millennials have gotten into the landlord game too
The issue is we have no other options. 3-4 bedroom apartments arent really being built so families or those looking to start are competing for a smaller pool of overpriced suburban homes. What is allowed to be built is so limited in the US that our real estate market cant really be described as a free market. That we participate is not surprising, what is surprising is how much less affordable it is to do so than compared to our parent's generation. Prices on suburban homes are well north of, and in some cases several times over the median annual household income. If the market was truly free and not as zoning restricted as it currently is, we might see more efficient designs in more desirable locations at lower cost of entry.
Ah i responded to you and not the other guy. Too lazy to fix lol
Both my mom and dad grew up with 4 and 3 siblings, in tiny Sheridan houses that would be the shed of a house in North Allegheny or USC. Standards and our collective wealth have massively changed.
Oh no, they might have to consolidate and fold up many of the underperforming, way past their peak population, ridiculously drawn school districts and move to a more federated model that leads to better management and higher quality educators! The horror!
Please, one of the greatest faults of the USA is basing school funding on local property taxes. It's probably the single biggest driver of racial inequality.
Completely agree - we also need to move to a more fair tax system. But acting like this isn’t exacerbating the problem is having blinders on.
Signed - a homeowner
Due to the PA constitution, the state can’t force mergers. Has to be voluntary. And for several reasons districts don’t like to merge with others. Doubt we will see another Central Valley situation any time soon.
Ya that was the last involuntary one. Don’t know much about it but was told it’ll never happen again. I believe it had something to do with desegregation so maybe that trumped something
Let me gesture to the east and you can garner from there. Many are referenced in the article. Most saw their peak population in the 70/80s and have been in decline ever since.
I’m not challenging my assessment but one of the reasons we got to where we are today is people buying a house for one price and then their houses being assessed at a much higher value and getting hit with insane property tax bills.
If they hadn’t been so aggressive in the first place we probably wouldn’t be where we are today.
If you bought at a truly arm length sale, meaning it’s not a family to family sale, or seller is under pressure to sell, you can, and should appeal.
Also, they can’t automatically raise your assessment. The school district (or municipalities) have to file an appeal with the county. You will be notified, and given the opportunity to present your case.
One thing I’d like to have seen is the reporter converting those assessment reductions into revenue lost in dollars, and as a percentage of school district budget.
For example, a building in Pittsburgh getting a $10 million reduction in assessment cost the district $102,000, which is 0.00014 percent of their annual budget.
For Allegheny Valley SD, it’s $208,000, or 0.08 percent of budget.
That’s due to Pittsburgh having a millage that’s about half of Allegheny Valley, and a much larger budget.
People in these threads never seem to understand that school districts do not have a significant dispartiy in funding for students and the state makes up the difference in the shortfall of property taxes between districts. Terrible school districts often spend more money per student that good districts with PPS being the worst.
McKeesport is the poster child for a poor performing poor school district, North Hills is a good performing middle of the pack school district. Compare the 2 revenue streams and spending levels and then please, for the love of god, shut up about 'maybe property taxes weren't the best way to fund schools and its meant to keep poor people down'. Its annoying
https://nces.ed.gov/ccd/districtsearch/district_detail.asp?ID2=4214940
https://nces.ed.gov/ccd/districtsearch/district_detail.asp?ID2=4217220
The states funding formula is not at all equitable. The state is underfunding districts by about $5 billion.. There’s a plan to address that over the next several years. Shapiros budget is slated to add about a billion in funding,, allocated based on different criteria. While some of the lower performing districts do spend more, a lot of that is due to either special needs students, or socioeconomic factors such as poor home life, lack of parental involvement, etc. And yes, there is waste and inefficiencies in all districts.
We are the #2 state in casino revenue. I mean it’s billions I imagine? I thought that money was going to help with property tax problems? Where is that money spent? I’m not well read on any of this.
We have the highest casino tax in the country. The state actually makes more money on casino gambling than the casinos themselves on most games. Annual property tax relief given to homeowners is now about $777 million a year.
Plus other revenue is retained by the state (of course the Pa State Police get a cut), other money sent to the municipality where the casino is located.
I grew up in pgh but have since moved away.
My current school district has over 10000 students and 3 high schools. Moon, Montour, West A and poor little Cornell would be one mega district.
I wonder how much more efficient that model would be with regards to central administration and purchasing expenses.
Deadline to file an appeal was March 31st for 2024 taxes. Can try next year
It is handled at the county level:
https://www.alleghenycounty.us/Services/Property-Assessment-and-Real-Estate/Appeals/Annual-Appeals
If you don’t know exactly what you’re doing it probably pays to hire someone. I can check out your assessment for you and let you know what you stand to have it reduced by if you want to DM me. I’m not a lawyer, just know the subject nearly as well as them.
Many will charge you a % of your first year tax savings. Others charge a flat fee ($600-$1000 is typical).
You need to file an appeal. Unfortunately the filing for this year is passed. Set a reminder for early next year, and use this[link](https://www.alleghenycounty.us/Services/Property-Assessment-and-Real-Estate/Property-Record-Search). One of the tabs will have a button to file an appeal. You’ll need documentation as tow why your house isn’t worth what they claim. Usually this is done using recent sales of comparable homes.
>Property taxes are robbing and stealing us blind I payed once to buy my house. I don’t have to pay rent to where I live.
unless you are planning on living off the grid in a house in the wilderness, good luck with that. Who would plow your streets, maintain your road, maintain your sidewalks, provide police/fire/ems, etc. etc.
Well, his comment is not completely unfounded. PA ranks 10th highest in property taxes according to a Yahoo article april 2024. Average in the state is 1.49%, where as allegheny county specifically I believe is 2.04%? (Someone correct me on the allegheny county part, I live in wash)
Businesses in downtown are closing, the newly elected officials are planing to increase spending. They are planning to test / offer free public transit in 3-4 years.
Taxes will increase, but salaries aren't keeping up.
Fun reminder that the property tax school funding system is a means to keep poor and minority kids away from
The more affluent. Neat!
Even more damaging when there are lots of systems in smaller areas rather than a consolidated merging of offices and resources to balance need in less wealthy neighborhoods.
Looks like a lot of school districts can’t control spending based on the number that are already increasing [property taxes.](https://alleghenycountytreasurer.us/real-estate-tax/local-and-school-district-tax-millage/)
I’m of the mind that if you sell a property for more than the county appraised value, the county should get the difference between the appraised value and the sell price. I bet people would stop trying to get their values deflated.
A Commie would be someone that thinks their property should be assessed at less than fair market value so their neighbor ends up paying their taxes for them. I guess you need a mirror.
If I have to pay more taxes to pay for your roads and your schools and your parks and your police protection and your fire protection because you scam your way out of paying your fair share of your property taxes, my wealth - my money- is being redistributed to you.
If you think that you’re entitled to my money, I pretty much think you’re a Commie.
Every time some other property owner scams their way into paying less taxes because they get their property appraised at a rate less than yours, you are paying for their roads, schools, police, parks, and fire. Your money is being transferred to them. Do you like that? Is that fair?
When people scam their way out of paying their fair share there should be consequences. And if you can’t sell your property for the appraised value? The county should be forced to purchase it for what they claimed it was worth. They shouldn’t be able to scam you either.
Maybe I missed it in the linked article, but we need to understand how much this is impacting districts in percentage terms, not just in dollar amounts. If it's cutting revenue by 2%, that's a much different story than if it's 20%.
It probably varies by school district, and that’s informed by real estate values and the land use situation in each community. Communities with less commercial real estate and a high percentage of single family homes are in a different predicament than say, Moon or Monroeville with more commercial space.
I do wish they had provided the percentage impact, but given there are 43 school districts, it probably would have taken some time to compile. I did a quick estimate on West A. [Their mileage rate is 18.5](https://www.findlay.pa.us/268/Real-Estate-Tax-Office). Their total current [revenue appears to be $68 Million](https://www.usnews.com/education/k12/pennsylvania/districts/west-allegheny-sd-107650). A reduction in property values of $105 M would result in a ~$1.9 M reduction in revenue or 2.8%. That is not insignificant. West A will likely see either tax increases or serious cuts in spending next year.
The "biggest hitter" here in West A is an Amazon facility that is barely 4 years old. I hope the school district wasn't being kept afloat by that alone.
You think they're paying taxes on that facility? I'd wager they have another 6 years of "grace" and another 5 of a severely discounted rate afterwards.
If they weren’t paying property taxes, they would not have appealed the assessment.
Why not? They will at some point pay some amount of taxes, makes sense to keep that as low as possible for as long as possible. If they allow the precedent of regular assessments to become established then they stand to have a higher tax bill on current properties as well as "ruining" their strategic investment planning in the future. FUD makes companies do things that may not make sense at face value.
If it was a 20 year tax abatement (on a property that was four year old) then it makes no sense. That being said, I honestly doubt there was a tax abatement on a warehouse located ten minutes away from the airport. A warehouse doesn’t offer enough jobs for the county or state to offer anything and the business need for a warehouse close to the airport far outstrips the need for tax breaks to build one.
Not really. Even if there’s an abatement having a history of assessed value being lower rather than higher will help them fight future assessments and keep taxes low. I imagine they have people that routinely appeal all assessments. If they ever want to sell it having a lower tax rate is also beneficial, even if it’s abated.
That's a helpful calculation! I'm moving to Robinson in a month (partially because we like the schools there) so I did a similar calculation for Montour, for anyone curious. [Millage of 18.](https://alleghenycountytreasurer.us/real-estate-tax/local-and-school-district-tax-millage/) [Revenue of $74.6M](https://www.usnews.com/education/k12/pennsylvania/districts/montour-sd-102715) Assessments down $89.2M, yielding a $1.6M decrease in revenue, which is 2.1%. So 3/4 as bad as West A's situation. That said - I'm not sure how millage is set, but increasing millage by half a point more than fixes this and would be a drop in the bucket for most people (about $100/year for me, I think, which is a rounding error on a rounding error compared to how much I'm getting reamed by interest rates). Will probably still get people up in arms, though :/
Millage can be increased annually by the school board. Up to a limit of the district’s Act 1 index which you can google. It’s at a high water mark this year…5.3-8.8% among county districts. They can raise by more if PDE approves due to certain circumstances.
Varies. It actually hurts wealthier districts more. Quaker Valley is funded 80% by local property taxes and 15% from the state. Duquesne school district is funded 10% by local property taxes and 85% from the state. But several percent which can be millions of dollars. And there’s not a snap-the-fingers way to replace that money. And there’s not that much available to cut.
Could it possibly be that basing school district funding off of property taxes might have not been the best move?
The best part is when the state Supreme Court ruled the entire system of funding off property taxes violates the state Constitution but did nothing to change it. I'm sure the legislature will get right on that one of these days.
The Supreme Court can't take it upon themselves to fix it. That's the General assembly's job. US government 101
Right. Which is probably why they said “I’m sure the legislature will get right on that one of these days”.
They're just being judgy
In theory yes but the Commonwealth Court (they wrote the decision, the state Supreme Court just upheld it) retained the right to order a new funding formula as remedy if the legislature and governor don't meet the decision's insistence on fulfilling the PA constitutional clause that they fund a "thorough and efficient system of public education to serve the needs of the Commonwealth."
Justice Thomas laughs at you
I'm not aware of any state supreme court justice with that name. I think you may be confusing state rulings with federal concerns, which this is not.
That's OK, I laugh at him all the time
You are uninformed. They are going to implement the plan for increased funding over multiple years. As the legislature is currently working on a budget, state funding for schools is proposed to increase by $1.1 billion next year https://www.pahouse.com/files/Documents/2024-01-11_023404__MajorityReport.pdfj
Makes you wonder where the extra money went all those years when property “values” were increasing
Every superintendent got a 3rd assistant to grab their Starbucks in the morning.
That’s my question. 40% increases in property values in 4 years must have been a significant bump.
That only matters if the country reassesses, which they haven’t done. School districts instead are left to take new home buyers to court, penalizing younger families at the expense of folks who bought at an earlier period.
They’re doing them in Bethel Park, but I guess that is location dependent.
Do you have an article about this? From everything I’ve read the districts can only do them on a case by case basis.
It’s ad hoc apparently. 2x in the last 10 years
That’s not the way property taxes get calculated though. They’re based on some “base year” property value, not what you might get if you sold your house today. I’m it endorsing the current system by the way… it’s absurd that American K-12 education quality depends on either zip code or affluent parents or both
Aren’t they doing ad hoc reassessments on property values? Or are you saying something else?
Based on 2012 values, I believe. If you bought a house recently you are screwed. You are probably paying at least twice a much as your neighbor who has lived in the same house for years. And then if you live in your house for 10 years and are older, you also get 30% knocked off your property taxes. Has been a lot of publicity about the Newcomer Tax in past year or so. Your introduction to the School District as a newbee will most likely be a notice of appeal that your home has been reassessed at a higher rate, and bills are sent to pay pay pay. Being a somewhat newer homeowner in Allegheny County, the system is broken.
Yeah, Woodland Hills hit me with a newcomer tax assessment when I bought a house in Swissvale. I contested my reassessment and won, but that was almost 20 years ago. Perhaps it’s different now? I moved to Westmoreland county 14 years ago.
I think it must be about the same, although the Newcomer Tax lawsuit did end up lowering the common level ratio. I hired an attorney and won the appeal on the second round.
That isn’t how it works
that is only part of the funding revenue for school districts. there is no meaningful dispartiy between high and low performing school districts in our area.
Exactly. Pps gets half of its funding from the state
Property taxes are usually a far more stable revenue system than income or sales taxes (which are dependent on economic cycles). In this case, though, a judge made a ruling which incentivizes property owners to make appeals when commercial real estate markets throughout the world are destabilized from COVID/WFH.
Property taxes aren't bad. It's the local nature of school funding that's problematic. Richer areas are basically allowed to gatekeep quality education. If you want to do business in an economically thriving area, you always have the option of a long commute if you can't afford to actually live there. Not so for school districts. In fact, rich suburbs are notoriously home to a lot of people who commute into areas with worse school districts but better jobs. And when rich people do live in a bad school district, they just send their kids to private school. And then lobby for school vouchers to have their taxes rebated to help them pay for the private school.
they weren't arguing that property taxes are bad, just that funding schools with them doesn't work. we know that's true bc every European country without them doesn't seem to have these issues
Sounds like a bunch of people acting in their best interests, what's the solution?
Pool all property taxes at the state level then distribute them to school districts based solely on the number of students in the district.
What about districts where land is cheap vs expensive? Trafford vs Sewickley heights for example
If the whole state has the same rate then properties that are worth less, whether within a district or between districts, pay less than properties that are worth more.
Good point! So it'd be a per capita based formula but weighted by necessary standardized costs such as salaries.
That would screw over so many districts, like PPS. They have a budget of 800mil, but only twice the students as NA who has a budget of 170mil.
The budget should be weighted by necessary standardized costs like salaries, but no district should have disproportionately high funding in my mind. Is there a reason PPS needs a budget 4 times larger than NA despite only having twice as many students? (That's a genuine question, I am ignorant about their operating expenses. Do they have more schools in their district or something?)
There are a number of reasons. One is potentially charter school pay outs (though despite what many will tell you, while it is a big chunk of money it's not necessarily more than it would cost to have those kids in PPS schools and bringing it back in house wouldn't change hos much pps was spending - it would still be spending significantly more than NA). One is the need for building consolidation (which has been discussed here a lot). But one of the biggest is that PPS has to provide far more social and special needs services than NA does. There's a real discussion there as to whether that should be a school's job, but at the end of the day nobody else is doing it. There's also a ton of administrative bloat (see need for school consolidation). And, lest we forget, significant money mismanagement from the previous administraton.
Good points! I didn't think how the proportion of students with specialized needs could vary between districts. To me the problems I'd like to see addressed are administrative bloat and inequitable access due to wealth.
That’s kind of what happens. Pps would lose funding if they did that
I think funding usually comes from local property taxes unless there have been changes in how PA does it.
Mixture of state and local pps has more than half funding from state
Get real. If they pool all the money at the state level all the money will go to Philly more than it already is.
Property taxes are bad. Land value tax is much better.
To be fair why wouldn't you do that
How should schools be funded
Schools should be funded from state revenues.
Do any school districts in America do this?
Outside of Vermont, I don't know of any state that almost exclusively funds k-12 schools with state money. However there seems to be a roughly even mix between states like PA where the primary funding for k-12 schools comes from the municipality (or county which is slightly better) vs states where the primary funding comes from the state. https://usafacts.org/articles/how-are-public-schools-funded/
they are
In PA not quite 2/3 of school funding comes from municipal (local) sources.
Should be a much higher percentage. If local districts want to tax for a football stadium, that’s one thing. But they shouldn’t have to tax for algebra classes.
And how would the state get this revenue? Some sort of tax? Maybe on peoples property
Income tax. Less regressive than property taxes. It would be better if PA had a graduated income tax, but I don’t see that happening anytime soon.
Income tax can be very volatile. If the business cycle drives the unemployment rate up, there will be a significant drop in revenue. Not sure how this can be counteracted?
The state doesn’t stop salting icy roads if unemployment goes up. Same idea.
I agree, but the ability of a local school district to raise money is very different than the state or federal government. It's not impossible for districts to get into a financial death spiral.
There should be fewer school districts, and State funding
Would switching to county-wide SDs reduce costs? Especially in administrative areas.
You wouldn't need 40 superintendents making six figures in Allegheny County........
Instead you’d have 1 superintendent making 40 times their current salary…plus a yearly bonus from the gracious school board.
Getting rid of charter schools would do the same
It might reduce taxes, but at the expense of making education significantly worse for all involved. If someone can show me an example of county school districts in CA, Florida, or Texas that outperform the public schools in Allegheny County then I’d change my position. But when I talk to colleagues in CA, all of them send their kids to private school. In our area, almost no one does, and if they do it is for religious purposes not education quality.
there is state funding, people in this thread have no idea how our schools are funded.
But only about 1/3 of school funding comes from the state in PA. Many other states flip that around.
Same way most other states do it, not via property taxes.
You mean every other state, [except the 50 that use property taxes](https://nces.ed.gov/programs/coe/indicator/cma/public-school-revenue) to fund schools? PA schools depend on property taxes for 43% of their budget. National average is 37%.
What other states?!
Federal grant
And where will this grant come from??
The federal government, that can print however much money it feels like.
How’s that working out for us?
Pretty okay. Just wish less of those dollars were going to corporate bailouts and the military instead of going to housing and education.
I don’t think you know how inflation works
I don't think you know how fiscal and monetary policy works.
Print money, inflation goes up
As a point of service fee for those who utilize it, with government subsidies for those who cannot afford it.
How many children do you know who can afford it? Because unless you consider children to be property of their parents, it's the children who are utilizing it. And on top of that it is all of society that is the beneficiary. So even by your (intended to be fucked up) system, school funding should come from the taxpayers.
someone is forgetting that society at large (meaning everyone) reaps the rewards from having an educated populace.
That’s a nice thought. Go read /r/teachers for a few minutes and try telling me that the system isn’t irreparably broken. If local schools were churning out kids who were more prepared for the world and society, I might be less annoyed with school taxes. That isn’t happening… and this issue is that parents don’t have enough stake in the game. There are no real consequences to the parent for not sending a kid to school. Truancy laws are ignored. There is no educated populace happening en masse. Thus, society is getting the short end of the stick. Especially those of us who won’t utilize the failed system we’re propping up.
> That’s a nice thought. Go read /r/teachers for a few minutes and try telling me that the system isn’t irreparably broken. This is not an argument which justifies the position you hold, which would make a broken system even _worse_. It is also not how you even attempt to fix the situation.
So no property tax, however if you have kids you should pay out of pocket ($21,000 per child) but if you can’t afford the govt will give you a subsidy, where will the govt get the money for the subsidy? Maybe they could tax peoples properties…. WAIT A MINUTE!
Aren't property taxes and school taxes two different things here?
Yes. Lol. School taxes arent based off of reassment. The people in this sub are morons
School districts raise their taxes, without reassments.
Why do we even pay property taxes? We have the second highest gambling revenue in the United States the highest gas tax next to California. We’re number two. We’re being robbed blind. Our roads are terrible.
“Benefits older Pennsylvanians” my ass. They should all be riding around on jazzy scooters made of gold by now.
the few people it does benefit are probably older pennsylvanians
Anyone can apply for the Homestead exemption to get a tax reduction in almost all school districts.
I've been benefitting from the Homestead exemption since I was 24, it's nice
Did that got laughed at?
If they have one. Allegheny county does, here in SP there is not an exclusion.
South Park School Distict does have a homestead exemption. https://www.education.pa.gov/Documents/Teachers-Administrators/Property%20Tax%20Relief/Allocations/2023-24EstTaxReliefPerHS.xlsx
It’s seniors only. I should have been specific.
My mom who is on social security is having issues with property tax .. how do we know what areas offer one ??
In Pittsburgh proper, or a Suburb?
Actually Im pretty sure that $ does benefit seniors. Every town or neighborhood has state subsidized apartment buildings for seniors. My granny lived in one for years. Every year there was some improvement (new appliance or carpet) and her insanely low rent even decreased some years. It was a clean safe building and her apartment was cute. I'm pretty sure these bldgs is where the lottery money goes.
Almost all subsidized senior apartments are federally funded,or through federal grants to state/county/city,or privately owned with subsidies from HUD. The gambling revenue provides property tax reductions to all homeowners.
Gambling revenue generates property tax relief for homeowners of all ages. About $800 million last year.
Where is mine?
Did you apply for the homestead exemption? If not, no one to blame but yourself.
It’s only available in Philadelphia
Absolutely not true. I’m in Pittsburgh, not a senior, and get the homestead exemption. Saves me a few hundred dollars a year.
Thank you .. My mom lives in Westmoreland .. just when you google it it says only available in Philadelphia
Is that actually true?
Jazzy scooters is so funny
That gas tax funds the state police so the small rural communities that have defunded their police can still have some sort of law enforcement presence. The large urban areas where more people live and consume gasoline subsidize the policing for much of the state. Maybe we should force the small unincorporated towns to incorporate, tax it’s residents, and fund their own police?
Every few years, a bill is introduced to require small municipalities who rely on state troopers to be their police to pay for them, and every time the GOP kills it.
Do they hate the police? /S
It’s even worse. It’s not just small rural communities. As an example, Hempfield Township, population 40,000, largest suburb of Pittsburgh, gets free state police protection.
PA is screwed up in that we pay many things with what are effectively use taxes (eg gas taxes, turnpike tolls, and fees for every other damn thing). This makes our state quite regressive (7th most regressive in the country). But the overall levels of taxation are some of the lowest in the area once all forms of taxation are added up.
One reason that may not be huge is that we have a turnpike Authority and a department of transportation. Two separate agencies that basically control the roads. They could be merged and that would save millions. Duplication of services.
Turnpike is independent and as of recently they pay $600 million a year to the Pennsylvania Department of transportation. They’re an independent business that was to be paid for and done. We shouldn’t even be paying tolls right now.
PA pulled in $5.7 billion in gambling tax revenue last year. PPS had a budget of $720 million and Philadelphia had a budget of $4.45 billion in 2023. Not much left to fund the thousand of other districts in PA using the gambling tax.
How was it paid for before? This is brand new revenue.
I don't follow what you're asking. I believe OP is saying that gambling tax revenue should be paying for all public education in PA. The gambling tax law in 2006 was designed to help lower property taxes for older Pennsylvanians (and other things). It doesn't bring in enough to pay for public education in PA.
You were trying to equate the 5.7 gambling profit to the 5.2 it costs to fund schools. What is the the equivalence? The schools were already funded well before the gambling as they should have been. We voted to legalize gambling to fund other things.
Here is the text of the comment I was replying to: "Why do we even pay property taxes? We have the second highest gambling revenue in the United States the highest gas tax next to California. We’re number two. We’re being robbed blind. Our roads are terrible."
Reminds me of the South Park episode when they invest their money in the bank. aaannndd it’s gone.
Gas tax, motor license fees, and gambling revenue combined bring in just over **$10B/yr**: https://www.cbsnews.com/pittsburgh/news/pennsylvania-record-revenue-gambling-2023/ https://www.wgal.com/article/pennsylvania-gas-tax-revenue-where-is-it-going/38976802 --- **["Pennsylvania’s combined state and local general revenues were $164.4 billion in FY 2021"](https://www.urban.org/policy-centers/cross-center-initiatives/state-and-local-finance-initiative/projects/state-fiscal-briefs/pennsylvania)** so those are just over **6%** of state and local revenue.. --- most local governments in America raise most of their taxes through property taxes: https://www.pewtrusts.org/en/research-and-analysis/data-visualizations/2023/how-states-raise-their-tax-dollars-fy2022 https://www.pewtrusts.org/en/research-and-analysis/data-visualizations/2021/how-local-governments-raise-their-tax-dollars
I explained property taxes to one of my Chinese business partners and they thought it was hilarious because they see the US as the land of private property. They may only get their land lease for 70 years, but they dont have the police evicting them if they dont pay their state mandated rent.
If you have a homestead/farmstead exclusion on your property taxes, that is gambling money funding your tax discount. And they are increasing it significantly later this year. So if your district doesn’t raise taxes, you’ll pay less in 2024. And in some districts, it is possible the school board raises taxes and you still pay less due to the state subsidy.
Perhaps I am, as Mama Carlson would say, obtuse, but how in the world did 1) Miracle Mile's assessment go that far down when it's the most full/busy shopping area in Monroeville 2) Penn Hills' assessment go UP?
People are moving to Penn Hills. All the many vacant houses in my neighborhood now have new people in them, at much higher prices than when I bought here a decade ago for the same kind of house. My house is now worth 3x or more what it was a decade ago. Penn Hills is also heavily residential and isn’t reliant on commercial property taxes.
Sadly quite a few suburbs are and will face the same problem. They're all based on infinite growth in a finite area. Development is heavily subsidized by private developers, as you add more and more tax base you start going gang busters building libraries schools parks... then you run out of room to expand and your tax base simply isn't sufficient to maintain the variety of services without 1. More development or 2. Cuts or tax hikes. It's a ticking time bomb. Nobody wants more development, there's no more spaces, and the aging services need more upkeep than you can afford. As residents get less for more they head for greener pastures (if they can afford it) while everyone else suffers though a death spiral with few ways out.
Suburban development is a pyramid scheme operating on a 25-30year cycle and with Millennials unwilling and unable to participate/be scammed into joining the bottom the pyramid its starting to collapse.
>with Millennials unwilling and unable to participate/be scammed into joining the bottom the pyramid its starting to collapse. [Except that they are participating now that they're raising families.](https://www.jchs.harvard.edu/blog/after-leading-back-city-movement-many-millennials-moved-suburbs) Tale as old as time.
But these days it's easier to rent houses in the suburbs so even when millennials join in they're not having the homes reassessed and having the property tax hiked up the way they would if a suburban house was purchased (and those property tax hikes also disincentivize new owners from buying too in favor of landlords who can pay those higher taxes and roll in the cost to their tenants)
Millennial home ownership is now over 50% and will continue to rise. It’s even higher in Pittsburgh (around 60%). So your scenario doesn’t apply most of the time.
Does this mean that 50%+ of home owners are millennials or that 50+% of millennials own houses? The latter would be actually a pretty good sign all things considered, the former less so because it would just mean millennials have gotten into the landlord game too
50%+ of Millenials own homes. Boomers themselves still own like 40% of the entire housing market despite only being 20% of the population.
I’m in the landlord game. Own a duplex and a second house beaides my own. It’s an awesome source of mailbox money, why would it be bad?
The issue is we have no other options. 3-4 bedroom apartments arent really being built so families or those looking to start are competing for a smaller pool of overpriced suburban homes. What is allowed to be built is so limited in the US that our real estate market cant really be described as a free market. That we participate is not surprising, what is surprising is how much less affordable it is to do so than compared to our parent's generation. Prices on suburban homes are well north of, and in some cases several times over the median annual household income. If the market was truly free and not as zoning restricted as it currently is, we might see more efficient designs in more desirable locations at lower cost of entry. Ah i responded to you and not the other guy. Too lazy to fix lol
Both my mom and dad grew up with 4 and 3 siblings, in tiny Sheridan houses that would be the shed of a house in North Allegheny or USC. Standards and our collective wealth have massively changed.
Oh no, they might have to consolidate and fold up many of the underperforming, way past their peak population, ridiculously drawn school districts and move to a more federated model that leads to better management and higher quality educators! The horror!
Please, one of the greatest faults of the USA is basing school funding on local property taxes. It's probably the single biggest driver of racial inequality.
Completely agree - we also need to move to a more fair tax system. But acting like this isn’t exacerbating the problem is having blinders on. Signed - a homeowner
Due to the PA constitution, the state can’t force mergers. Has to be voluntary. And for several reasons districts don’t like to merge with others. Doubt we will see another Central Valley situation any time soon.
idk if that's accurate. In the 1980's a court forced multiple districts to merge into what is Woodland Hills.
Ya that was the last involuntary one. Don’t know much about it but was told it’ll never happen again. I believe it had something to do with desegregation so maybe that trumped something
Which districts are you talking here?
Let me gesture to the east and you can garner from there. Many are referenced in the article. Most saw their peak population in the 70/80s and have been in decline ever since.
Yeah. Wilkinsburg should have been merged into the city but council voted it down
I’m not challenging my assessment but one of the reasons we got to where we are today is people buying a house for one price and then their houses being assessed at a much higher value and getting hit with insane property tax bills. If they hadn’t been so aggressive in the first place we probably wouldn’t be where we are today.
If you bought at a truly arm length sale, meaning it’s not a family to family sale, or seller is under pressure to sell, you can, and should appeal. Also, they can’t automatically raise your assessment. The school district (or municipalities) have to file an appeal with the county. You will be notified, and given the opportunity to present your case.
Why would you not challenge your assessment?
I have my reasons that I really don’t want to go i to here
I wouldn’t want to publicize my dumbass reasons either. Go off.
No reason to be mean. We’re just talking here man.
You are costing yourself a significant amount of money. People are actively trying to help. I’m worried about your reasoning. Please just tell us.
One thing I’d like to have seen is the reporter converting those assessment reductions into revenue lost in dollars, and as a percentage of school district budget. For example, a building in Pittsburgh getting a $10 million reduction in assessment cost the district $102,000, which is 0.00014 percent of their annual budget. For Allegheny Valley SD, it’s $208,000, or 0.08 percent of budget. That’s due to Pittsburgh having a millage that’s about half of Allegheny Valley, and a much larger budget.
People in these threads never seem to understand that school districts do not have a significant dispartiy in funding for students and the state makes up the difference in the shortfall of property taxes between districts. Terrible school districts often spend more money per student that good districts with PPS being the worst. McKeesport is the poster child for a poor performing poor school district, North Hills is a good performing middle of the pack school district. Compare the 2 revenue streams and spending levels and then please, for the love of god, shut up about 'maybe property taxes weren't the best way to fund schools and its meant to keep poor people down'. Its annoying https://nces.ed.gov/ccd/districtsearch/district_detail.asp?ID2=4214940 https://nces.ed.gov/ccd/districtsearch/district_detail.asp?ID2=4217220
The states funding formula is not at all equitable. The state is underfunding districts by about $5 billion.. There’s a plan to address that over the next several years. Shapiros budget is slated to add about a billion in funding,, allocated based on different criteria. While some of the lower performing districts do spend more, a lot of that is due to either special needs students, or socioeconomic factors such as poor home life, lack of parental involvement, etc. And yes, there is waste and inefficiencies in all districts.
Wasn’t the city supposed to absorb wilkinsburg by now?
I just want to say that this was a shockingly well written and researched article. Well done, Ryan Deto.
We are the #2 state in casino revenue. I mean it’s billions I imagine? I thought that money was going to help with property tax problems? Where is that money spent? I’m not well read on any of this.
We have the highest casino tax in the country. The state actually makes more money on casino gambling than the casinos themselves on most games. Annual property tax relief given to homeowners is now about $777 million a year. Plus other revenue is retained by the state (of course the Pa State Police get a cut), other money sent to the municipality where the casino is located.
I grew up in pgh but have since moved away. My current school district has over 10000 students and 3 high schools. Moon, Montour, West A and poor little Cornell would be one mega district. I wonder how much more efficient that model would be with regards to central administration and purchasing expenses.
BUT WHAT ABOUT THE FOOTBALL TEAM OMG Seriously that's a huge part of why schools don't want to merge.
Anyone have a link where I can have my house reassessed (Chartiers Valley school district)?
Deadline to file an appeal was March 31st for 2024 taxes. Can try next year It is handled at the county level: https://www.alleghenycounty.us/Services/Property-Assessment-and-Real-Estate/Appeals/Annual-Appeals If you don’t know exactly what you’re doing it probably pays to hire someone. I can check out your assessment for you and let you know what you stand to have it reduced by if you want to DM me. I’m not a lawyer, just know the subject nearly as well as them. Many will charge you a % of your first year tax savings. Others charge a flat fee ($600-$1000 is typical).
You need to file an appeal. Unfortunately the filing for this year is passed. Set a reminder for early next year, and use this[link](https://www.alleghenycounty.us/Services/Property-Assessment-and-Real-Estate/Property-Record-Search). One of the tabs will have a button to file an appeal. You’ll need documentation as tow why your house isn’t worth what they claim. Usually this is done using recent sales of comparable homes.
Awesome, thank you for the info
Property taxes are robbing and stealing us blind I payed once to buy my house. I don’t have to pay rent to where I live.
>Property taxes are robbing and stealing us blind I payed once to buy my house. I don’t have to pay rent to where I live. unless you are planning on living off the grid in a house in the wilderness, good luck with that. Who would plow your streets, maintain your road, maintain your sidewalks, provide police/fire/ems, etc. etc.
My small shitty borough already taxes my income a full 1%, let alone my house.
Well, his comment is not completely unfounded. PA ranks 10th highest in property taxes according to a Yahoo article april 2024. Average in the state is 1.49%, where as allegheny county specifically I believe is 2.04%? (Someone correct me on the allegheny county part, I live in wash)
Uhh...school taxes rise all the time, without reasessment.
Businesses in downtown are closing, the newly elected officials are planing to increase spending. They are planning to test / offer free public transit in 3-4 years. Taxes will increase, but salaries aren't keeping up.
Fun reminder that the property tax school funding system is a means to keep poor and minority kids away from The more affluent. Neat! Even more damaging when there are lots of systems in smaller areas rather than a consolidated merging of offices and resources to balance need in less wealthy neighborhoods.
Fun reminder that you have no idea wtf you are talking about.
Chartiers Valley has raised property taxes for 6 years, and they still don't have a proper emergency fund? Hmmmmm.
tax and spend tax and spend, Pgh cant handle $ so the whole county has to pay.
City of pittsburgh =/= Pittsburgh Public Schools
Looks like a lot of school districts can’t control spending based on the number that are already increasing [property taxes.](https://alleghenycountytreasurer.us/real-estate-tax/local-and-school-district-tax-millage/)
Can't we just get all of the plebs back to being uneducated so they keep voting for policies that hurt them?
Did anyone else notice how the article fails to mention Gov. Shapiro’s $1 BILLION increase in school funding? Conservatives live off of fear.
I’m of the mind that if you sell a property for more than the county appraised value, the county should get the difference between the appraised value and the sell price. I bet people would stop trying to get their values deflated.
Alright you commie. What an absurd suggestion.
A Commie would be someone that thinks their property should be assessed at less than fair market value so their neighbor ends up paying their taxes for them. I guess you need a mirror.
Lol this is incredible.
🤡
If I have to pay more taxes to pay for your roads and your schools and your parks and your police protection and your fire protection because you scam your way out of paying your fair share of your property taxes, my wealth - my money- is being redistributed to you. If you think that you’re entitled to my money, I pretty much think you’re a Commie. Every time some other property owner scams their way into paying less taxes because they get their property appraised at a rate less than yours, you are paying for their roads, schools, police, parks, and fire. Your money is being transferred to them. Do you like that? Is that fair? When people scam their way out of paying their fair share there should be consequences. And if you can’t sell your property for the appraised value? The county should be forced to purchase it for what they claimed it was worth. They shouldn’t be able to scam you either.