Rebuilding Clairton Together
  • Home
  • Welcome
  • Updates Feed
  • About Us (RCT)
    • Mission Statement & Philosophy
    • Theme Song
  • Helpful Resources
  • DCEDD (Dept OF Community & Economic Development)
  • City Council Minutes

Millage reduced, tax bills could go up

5/24/2013

0 Comments

 
Clairton school official explains final figures all depend on assessments 

BY
MICHAEL DIVITTORIO

Clairton City School District resi­dents are expected to see a reduction in their real estate tax rates, but may pay a higher bill because of Allegheny County reassessments.

School directors unanimously approved a preliminary budget at Wednesday night’s meeting with a millage rate of 75.4 mills for land and 7.5 mills for buildings. It reflects reduc­tions  of 4.6 mills for land from the current 80-mill rate, and no change for buildings.

Proposed revenue is listed at $14,296,146 with expenses at $14,490,407, leaving a $194,261 shortfall. The district is filling the financial hole with money from its $526,001 fund balance.

District business manager Chuck Lanna said residents should focus on their property assessments and not
just the millage rate when it comes to factoring their tax bills.

“The single biggest factor as to whether it’s going to be higher or lower is not the millage rate, it’s going to be the assessed value,” Lanna said. “If someone’s assessed value went up by more than 25 percent, and a lot of people’s did, their total tax bill is going to go up. If their assessed value went up by less than 25 percent, chances are it is going to go down ... If someone gets an 80 percent increase in their assessed value, no matter what you do with mill­age rates, their taxes are going to go up because their assessed value went up so
much.”

Lanna said the total assessed value of the district’s 5,000-plus taxable proper­ties  went up by roughly 23 percent.

Lanna said the district hopes to get updated figures from the county prior to the budget’s scheduled final adop­tion  on June 25.

He anticipates a slight reduction in millage for buildings, and setting 77 mills for land at that time.

School board president Richard Liv­ingston said the district may need to look into reopening the budget or seek some form of relief through Allegh­eny  County courts should the county figures and millage rates prove trouble­some.

“I don’t want to pass a budget that we’re requiring a millage rate, and that millage rate is not going to cover the bills we have,” Livingston said.

Lanna said there are “strict limita­tions”  on reopening a budget.

One significant assessment decrease currently being appealed is that of U.S. Steel’s Clairton Coke Works
plant.

Livingston said its assessment dropped from $14.5 million to $2.5 mil­lion,  changing the payment to the dis­trict  from $360,000 to $20,000.

The district hired Ira Weiss earlier this year as special counsel for the appeal, and to perform an appraisal of the U.S. Steel property.

Tax bills will be sent out the first week of July.

Michael DiVittorio is a staff writer for Trib Total  Media. He can be reached at 412-664-9161, ext.  1965, or
[email protected].

 



0 Comments



Leave a Reply.

    Author

    Cathy White,
    Rebuilding Clairton Together

    Archives

    May 2025
    April 2017
    September 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    October 2013
    September 2013
    August 2013
    July 2013
    May 2013
    April 2013
    March 2013
    February 2013
    January 2013
    December 2012
    November 2012
    October 2012
    September 2012
    August 2012


    Categories

    All
    Community Day
    Historical Pictures
    School

    If you would like to receive an email with updates to this page (once daily), enter your email address below and confirm the email sent to you.

    Enter your email address:

    Delivered by FeedBurner

    *Important:  Once you enter your address above, you need to confirm the request via the emai that is immediately sent to you from feedburner.  If its not in your email, it may be in your spam box.

    RSS Feed

Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.