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Trinity tax rate decreasing; Dept. of Education ends probe into last year’s budget

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Nearly a year after Trinity Area School District’s tax levy caused consternation when many property owners opened their tax bills, a bit of relief is in sight.

School districts at this time last year were grappling with new numbers in the wake of Washington County’s first property reassessment in 35 years.

Several residents questioned whether the Trinity district violated the anti-windfall provision in state law that limits the amount of revenue a taxing body can raise in the year following a reassessment.

Washington County previously based taxes on 25 percent of a property’s value, but its new system raised the base to 100 percent.

The county commissioners relayed concerns brought before them to an Education Department executive that Trinity had not properly rebalanced its real estate tax rate in the aftermath of the property reassessment.

An examination of several aspects of the Trinity 2017-18 budget took many months and resulted in long and detailed email exchanges among state and county officials and the office of state Sen. Camera Bartolotta, R-Carroll, whose district includes constituents in the Trinity area.

Analyzing Trinity’s projected revenue came down to a minute examination of figures on spreadsheets and a slew of questions for Brad Boni, Washington County’s chief assessor, according to an email exchange shared by Trinity residents.

The school district is home to unique properties that are not part of the mix in many Washington County school districts, such as Washington Crown Center mall. Dr. Michael Lucas, Trinity superintendent, pointed out in an undated letter to the Department of Education director of the Bureau of Budget and Fiscal Management the mall alone received an $80 million assessment reduction, and commercial property appeals exceeded $379 million.

Trinity Area also includes properties with tax abatements such as Tanger Outlets and a Courtyard by Marriott hotel in South Strabane Township that were built with tax-increment financing; businesses in North Franklin Township included in a Local Economic Revitalization Tax Assistance program; and other properties that are part of a Revenue Allocation Program.

Lucas also mentioned in his letter, “Many residential appeals were pending and were not included in any Trinity Area calculations. In addition to the factors above, Act 1 does not permit any correction to a millage rate and Trinity’s fund balance could not absorb an error.”

Pennsylvania Act 1 has an index used to determine maximum tax increases school districts can levy without a Department of Education exception or voter approval.

Lucas could not be reached immediately for further comment.

Paul Svoboda, an official with the state Department of Education, referred to these as “extenuating circumstances” when he wrote earlier this month to a district director from Bartolotta’s office.

“After several conversations with the superintendent, business manager and others at Trinity Area School District to discuss the real estate tax rate for 2017-18, the rationale for their calculations was better understood, including certain assumptions they made based on these variables. This perspective and additional data provided by the Washington County assessor helped to inform a more comprehensive understanding than what was represented to the department initially,” Svoboda continued.

He noted the school district plans to reduce its real estate tax rate for the 2018-19 budget.

“Based on the materials made available to the department, this resolution – pending adoption by the locally elected board of directors – does not appear to be inappropriate and the department believes there is (no) need for its further involvement in this matter.”

The school board last month approved a general fund budget of $58.05 million for the 2018-19 school year, and is set to adopt a final budget Thursday.

The budget, if adopted in its current form, will reduce the millage rate from 13.6 to 13.3 mills.

The millage rate reduction means a person who owns a home with an assessed value of $100,000 will see a savings of $29 on their 2018-19 school tax bill.

The total assessed value in the Trinity district at this time last year was $2.466 billion. After successful appeals, this figure has declined to $2.377 billion.

Currently, the school district has a surplus of $1 million, about 2 percent of its budget. In accordance with the recommendation of district auditors Cypher & Cypher, the surplus, known in budget lingo as a “fund balance,” should be somewhere in the neighborhood of $2.5 million to $2.6 million, which would be about 5 percent of Trinity’s budget.

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