posted by Mike Madison at 1:25 PM /
Because School District officials throughout Allegheny County are undoubtedly scrutinizing yesterday's PA Supreme Court ruling on real estate assessments (as well as waiting for the other shoe to drop, and the other shoe beyond that, and so forth), and because the most important impact of the ruling will be on school finance, here is a link to my post yesterday at Pittsblog, which is a cautionary if not perfectly applicable tale of what happened in California in the wake of "tax reform."
3 Comments:
I read it, and I am worried about getting California schools much the way we now have California emissions.
Assessment – SmessmentIt matters far less how properties are assessed than how much the taxing authorities spend and whether the tax generating means are equitable.
Onorato has done a good job on spending in the County, but he is an absolute goof on this assessment issue.
Reassessments should be revenue neutral. If taxing bodies need more money - - they should stand up and be accountable for their spending priorities, as they raise taxes. No back door tax increases. (Onorato’s real target, I believe)
It kills me when school directors AND commissioners say we have to raise millage because assessments are frozen. As if rising tax bills from reassessment are any less of a tax increase than a millage increase.The Municipality used to boast how they kept millage rates low – all the while our tax bills were going up, up and away.
Our leaders should focus on delivering value from the revenue they collect instead of complaining about not being able to collect enough -- without reassessments.
I agree with Bill Matthews. Spending by taxing bodies is the real issue. In the case of the Mt. Lebanon School District, spending over 15 fiscal years 1993/04 thru 2008/09 will increase by 84% vs. CPI-U inflation of only 46%, and over which time there was essentially no change in overall enrollment. District employment, however, increased by 31% in full time equivilent (FTE) terms, which was the real spending driver. People account for 75% of the total operating budget.
During this same period, test scores (ie. SAT, ACT, Nat. Merit Scholarship Semifinalists)did not increase to any significant degree while the average cost per student increased by 81%.
The very last figure in the final determination of a school district budget is the millage rate necessary to derive enough revenue to balance the spending *requirements* of the budget.
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