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Canonsburg, Cecil prepare spending plans for 2017

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Canonsburg’s proposed budget calls for an increase in property taxes that would mean a .35-mill increase in real estate taxes once the rate is adjusted for the countywide property reassessment.

Borough council voted Nov. 14 to approve a tentative budget of $5,080,929 for 2017. Council is expected to vote on the final version of the budget at its next voting meeting Dec. 12.

Borough manager Denise Lesnock said council is still working out line items in the spending plan but didn’t expect the total revenue and expenditures to change before it goes before council decides whether to give it final approval.

Local governments throughout Washington County must change millage rates for next year to take into account new property values under the reassessment. The last reassessment was in 1981.

Part of Canonsburg’s proposed spending plan includes $30,000 in refunds to property owners who succeed in appealing their new valuations, but Lesnock said she wasn’t sure that will cover all the revenue the borough might lose to appeals, with some large commercial property owners among those challenging their new values.

“I have nothing to base (that line item) on,” she said. “We’ve seen the big companies coming through already, and that’s scary.”

The new assessed property values are intended to be a reflection of fair market value. Property values in the county were previously treated as 25 percent of 1981 market value.

Without any change in total tax revenue, Canonsburg’s 39.33-mill tax rate for this year would become 3.49 mills under the new valuations, Lesnock said.

Borough tax collector Robert Maceiko said state law allows the borough to increase revenue by up to 10 percent once it has been readjusted to the revenue-neutral rate. Some property owners may see a greater than 10 percent increase in next year’s budget, however, based on the new valuations of their properties. Others may see a smaller change in their tax bills next year.

The proposed budget includes a total of 3.84 mills in property taxes: 2.93 for the general fund, .32 mills for debt service, .29 mills for fire service, .2 mills for road improvements, and .1 mills for the parks and recreation fund, Lesnock said.

Cecil Township’s proposed budget of $8,403,169 – an 8.2-percent decrease from this year – would leave revenue from property taxes neutral once adjusted for the reassessment.

Township manager Don Gennuso said the tax rate for next year would be 1.51 mills. Of that, 1.06 mills would go toward the general fund, .18 to road machinery and .27 to fire protection. The rate this year is 16 mills in total.

Township supervisors approved the tentative budget Nov. 21. Gennuso expected a vote on the final budget during a special meeting set for 10 a.m. Dec. 21.

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