Greater Latrobe School District will not increase real estate taxes for the 2019-2020 school year more than 2.36 mills, and very likely it will be less than that, a school official said Tuesday.
Daniel Watson, Greater Latrobe’s business administrator, said Tuesday he does not anticipate the school district will raise taxes to the maximum level allowed by the state’s Act 1 index for the next school year, even if the amount of state subsidies Greater Latrobe receives for 2019-2020 remains “flat.”
The Greater Latrobe School Board Tuesday approved limiting any real estate tax to the 2.9 percent increase set by the state-determined index under Act 1, the Taxpayer Relief Act. Greater Latrobe has stayed within the state’s tax increase limit since the 2011-2012 school year.
Under provisions of Act 1, school districts must approve a resolution by the end of January, notifying residents if they do not intend to raise taxes about the state index. The school district now has five days to submit budget projections to the Department of Education. The state education department verifies that the potential tax hike is within the state’s index for Greater Latrobe.
Watson said it is too early to tell how much the district may hike property taxes in the next fiscal year. The school district levies a real estate tax of 81.25 for the current fiscal year.
He said he is awaiting Gov. Tom Wolf ‘s presentation in February of his state budget for the next fiscal year, which starts July 1.
Joe Napsha is a Tribune-Review staff writer. You can contact Joe at 724-836-5252 or jnapsha@tribweb.com.
