Penn-Trafford proposes 2-mill tax hike for next year

Property owners in the Penn-Trafford School District would face a 2-mill tax hike under a tentative $60.9 million budget for the 2021-2022 school year adopted Monday.

The 2-mill increase would boost taxes to 89.25 mills in the Westmoreland County municipalities of Penn Township, Manor and Trafford that the district serves. In the small portion of Trafford in Allegheny County — some 40 properties — owners will see an increase of 0.11 mill to 15.25 mills, said Brett Lago, district business manager. The difference in millage rates is due to differences in assessment rates on property in the two counties, Lago said.

The proposed tax hike comes a year after the school board raised property taxes by a mill for the current school year.

The proposed budget would increase expenditures by about $3.4 million from the current spending plan of $57.5 million. Lago said some expenditures were withdrawn from the 2020-2021 school year because of the uncertainty of the impact of the covid pandemic on district finances.

Under the proposed 2.2% increase in the real estate tax, Lago said an owner with an average property assessment of $29,023 would see their school taxes increase by $58 to $2,590.

School board member Nick Petrucci, Dr. Scott Koscho, Jim Matarazzo, Rich Niemiec and Martin Stovar voted to approve the budget, while Toni Issing, Phil Kochasic and Dallas Leonard opposed the proposed tax increase. Bill Leonard was absent from the meeting.

By passing the budget, the board will have several weeks to review it before final approval in June and could eliminate a tax hike, Koscho said.

Dallas Leonard said he would not vote to increase property taxes after a difficult year and one in which the federal government has proposed increasing taxes. President Biden said he would favor a tax hike on corporations and those who earn more than $400,000, to fund programs in the proposed American Rescue Plan Biden signed in March.

Leonard blamed some of the increase in expenditures on “a very lucrative contract” for Penn-Trafford’s teachers.

The revenue from one of the mills in the tax hike — about $300,000 — would be placed into the capital reserve fund, but would not be designated for specific expenditures, Lago said.

Issing said she would be in favor of a 1-mill tax increase, in which the revenue would be earmarked for capital improvement projects.

Speaking of building a reserve of money for capital projects, Petrucci said the district should have been saving tax revenue for new construction.

“We need about 10 mills,” Petrucci said.

Penn-Trafford will not be saving any money as a result of teacher retirements. While four teachers will reire at the end of the school year, five will be hired for special education and elementary education positions, Lago said.