Tonight’s the night, the Tyrone Area School Board is scheduled to decide whether to opt in or out of Act 72, the law which is designed to provide tax relief for property owners statewide.
The law is based on using funds generated from expected revenues from slot machines which won’t begin spinning until sometime in 2006 at the earliest. The soonest taxpayers could expect to see a benefit is the 2007-08 school year. Some experts have said the reduction may not be realized until even later.
Once the funding becomes available, property owners are expected to receive the reduction each year. Gambling revenues must reach certain levels for the reduction to go into effect. The amount each district’s taxpayers would receive is subject to variables such as how much revenue is generated and how many of a district’s homeowners apply for eligibility. There have also been questions regarding the amount of a tax reduction a property owner receives being affected by how many districts decide to “opt in.”
One by one, several school districts in the area have decided to “opt out” of receiving the gambling-generated funds which would then be applied to homeowners and farmowners who filed an exclusion form. Property owners would not actually receive a refund. Instead, the credit would be applied to make the value of their property subject to taxes a lesser amount, thus giving the taxpayer a smaller amount of taxes owed.
The decision to “opt out” regionally is running even higher, percentage-wise, than the latest statewide figures available.
The Associated Press said in a report published in yesterday’s Daily Herald that the Act 72 tally on the PSBA Web site has climbed quickly this week ahead of Monday’s deadline for “opting in” to allow homeowners to share in a projected $1 billion a year in slot-machine gambling revenue that will be funneled into property-tax cuts.
The Associated Press said in its report that technically, boards can signal their desire not to participate by taking no action. However most boards have decided to vote one way or the other regarding participation in the program.
The latest information available on the PSBA Web site this morning showed 230 school boards had voted to “opt out” and 76 of the state’s 501 school boards had voted to “opt in.” The site is updated at 12:30 and 4 p.m. daily. The figures do not represent votes taken last evening including the Bellwood-Antis School District’s decision to “opt out.”
Other districts surrounding Tyrone Area and Bellwood-Antis have also “opted out” including Phillipsburg-Osceola, Huntingdon and Altoona. The PSBA Web site did not list Bald Eagle Area in either the “opt in” or “opt out” category. The Glendale School District has also not voted yet.
Tyrone Area officials have expressed concern over how participation in the property tax reduction would affect its need to equalize taxes since the district straddles three counties. Administrators have been working with state officials to get answers regarding whether or not participate in the program would leave the district in a position of violating laws governing equalization to adhere to certain referendum requirements outlined in Act 72.
The AP said in its report, school boards have also criticized a provision that allows voters in participating districts to block most property tax increases that exceed the inflation rate.
The AP report said districts have also objected to a requirement that local income taxes be increased, to shift more of school costs from homeowners to wage earners, and question whether the promised revenues will become available in 2007 as the Rendell administration has said.
“They’re making essentially an irrevocable decision,” said Tom Gentzel, executive director of the PSBA.
Gov. Ed Rendell, who promised in his 2002 campaign to legalize slots and use the revenue to cut property taxes, said Tuesday he went along with giving boards the option not to participate in Act 72 as part of a deal with lawmakers. But he said he now believes that was a mistake.
“It’s enormously frustrating to me that the school boards haven’t seen or recognized what we’ve tried to do here,” he said in a brief telephone interview from Washington.
Tyrone’s school board is scheduled to meet in a work session at 5 o’clock this evening and hold its regular session at 6 p.m.
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On the Net:
Pennsylvania School Boards Association: http://www.psba.org
(Editor’s note: The Associated Press contributed to this article.)
