School Board’s 10.5-Percent Tax Increase Earns Another “Lancing”

Today, Mt. Lebanon got “lanced” again by the Tribune-Review:

Lance: To Mt. Lebanon. Its school board approved a staggering 10.5 percent increase in taxes this week. That's to pay for a poorly executed high school renovation project and to cover teacher pensions. And, apparently, there's a little something in there for a new contract with teachers, now being negotiated. The school tax bill on a $200,000 home will soar to more than $5,300 a year. And that great sucking you're soon to hear won't be the straw at the bottom of an empty cold coffee.

Over on his blog, School Board Director James Fraasch comments on the situation:

I can't say I disagree with the lances. It's unfortunate that for years this Board has known the day would come when taxes would skyrocket up in order to pay for the high school. Since the first day I sat down on this Board, I asked how we were planning to pay for it. The answer became so clear on Monday night. We decided to increase taxes to pay for 100% of the cost of the first set of bonds for the project.

Mr. Fraasch’s post is worth reading. He shows that the true problem isn’t the tax increase so much as the culture that created it, a culture that threatens to make Mt. Lebanon uncompetitive.

Making people pay more for what they can get elsewhere is not the recipe for community growth. It’s the recipe for decline.