Jeannette City School District property owners will pay about 1.1% more in taxes for the 2025-26 school year.

In a 5-3 vote Tuesday, the school board approved raising property taxes by 1 mill. The new tax rate will be 90 mills.

The 1-mill increase will cost the average property owner just under $13 annually, officials said.

The tax decision came eight days after the same hike failed to get enough affirmative votes.

“It’s a lose-lose situation; it’s a tough decision, even from last meeting to this meeting,” said School Director B.J. Bortz. “You’re not going to make everybody happy. Everybody’s discussion has opened my eyes a little bit more.”

The tax increase will generate about $46,800 in revenue to go toward the $24.46 million budget.

Of the total budget, just under $6 million comes from local sources. The state contributes the bulk of the revenue, about $17.85 million, with federal sources adding about $890,000.

The district’s 2025-26 spending plan has been a work in progress since a preliminary version containing a proposed 2-mill property tax increase the board approved in May. After the district learned it would get more federal funding than anticipated, the hike was cut in half.

On June 16, that 1-mill property tax increase failed in a 4-3 vote. A measure must get at least five votes. Two members of the nine-person board were absent during that school board meeting.

Votes fell along the same lines Tuesday as the June 16 meeting: Bortz and Directors Rachel Ramsey and Janice Smarto cast the opposing votes; Directors Chris Belville, Timothy Mortimore, Robert Kristoff and Melissa Humberger approved the increase. Director Tim Carney, who was not present at the June 16 meeting, provided the fifth affirmative vote. Director Marcie Werner has been excused for medical reasons.

District Business Manager Stacey Sloan-Schrey said she was able to further pare down the $24.7 million spending plan to $24.46 million after the June 16 meeting in preparation for Tuesday’s vote. She provided details about options for the board, ranging from a 1-mill increase to no hike at all.

Any gaps between revenues and expenditures would have come from the district’s $6 million fund balance.

Superintendent Matt Jones previously told board members that the proposed 1-mill property tax increase to 90 mills would hold revenue steady as the value of properties in Jeannette continues to decrease, resulting in less tax income.

Mortimore said of the tax increase costing the average property owner just under $13: “That’s two cups of coffee, three cups of coffee a year.”

He advocated for incremental increases, rather than holding off on raising taxes and doing a larger hike in years to come.

“If we want to continue to provide our students with the proper education, especially moving into some of the newer technology, I don’t want to get to a point where we have to decide to cut stuff,” he said.

Jeannette is at a disadvantage compared to neighboring communities that have land that can be developed, Smarto said.

“We’re really at the end of what you can be at the end of … we don’t have anywhere to take this money, where to get this money from,” she said. “Our millage isn’t worth what Hempfield is.”

Ramsey focused on the $46,800 in revenue that 1 mill will bring in.

“I don’t think $46,800 is going to save this district,” she said.

Humberger saw it as way to preserve a program or employee.

“Yes, it’s not a lot, but that could be a salary for someone that’s supporting our students,” she said.

The property tax rate was last raised in the 2022-23 school year, when a 1-mill increase was passed.

School district millage rates in 2024-25 in Westmoreland County ranged from 85.90 mills in municipalities covered by Ligonier Valley to 158.61 in West Leechburg, where students attend Leechburg Area in Armstrong County, according to information compiled by the Westmoreland tax office.

Jeannette City’s rate was among the lowest in the county during that school year.

Two Westmoreland County school districts raised their millage rates this week by the maximum allowed by the state.

Norwin School District property owners will see a 4.67-mill tax hike for the 2025-26 school year under the $95.48 million budget. Hempfield Area school directors approved a 4.35-mill property tax hike under the $114.3 million spending plan.

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