Residents of Leechburg Area School District could see property tax bills balanced between Armstrong and Westmoreland county communities for the first time in years, but it’s going to take different assessment rates than they’re used to.
The tax bills will include something also not seen in years: a tax increase not caused solely by the equalization ratio the district is forced to use because it crosses county boundaries.
While the proposed budget calls for an overall 3% tax increase, the calculations to determine tax bills will use a different formula allowed by the state’s Tax Equalization Board.
The budget is based on a taxation method that equalizes assessment rates across counties instead of millage rates, meaning virtually every property in the district will be assigned an assessed value different than those used in the past.
In October, Leechburg Area Business Manager Jake Chapla presented the method, one of four allowed under state law, to balance property taxes between the district’s Armstrong County and Westmoreland County residents after years of uneven taxation.
For next year — and for the first time — millage rates for West Leechburg in Westmoreland County and Leechburg and Gilpin in Armstrong County would have the same tax rate of 132.45 mills.
The formula operates on a new, lower assessed property value, so applying the new millage rate to current assessed values won’t work. The exact assessment for each property has yet to be determined, and the district so far hasn’t released what the median assessed value would be under the new formula.
To give property owners an idea of what the millage rate would would mean for tax bills, Chapla used various market values as examples.
Leechburg homeowners with a market value around $120,000 would pay about $1,411 under the proposed millage rate. Gilpin residents with a similar market value would pay about $1,407, and West Leechburg residents would pay $1,408.
This is the first time in eight years the district has proposed a tax increase, according to Superintendent David Keibler.
“This is attributed to the cost increase in the current year, as well as the past eight years during which taxes have not increased,” Keibler said in an email.
No major projects are slated for the next school year, Keibler said.
The proposed budget includes expenditures projected just over $17.5 million and revenues a little over $16.55 million.
Keibler said expenditures are increasing by almost $800,000 in the preliminary budget, while revenue increased by roughly $200,000.
He cited increases in healthcare and cyber charter school costs as the main culprits for the increase in expenditures from the current school year.
The final budget will be voted on during the district’s meeting at 6:30 p.m. June 17 in the Leechburg High School library.