Penn Hills School District raises taxes for 3rd consecutive year

Penn Hills School Board unanimously approved the 2022-23 budget on June 29, which raises the real estate tax rate for the third consecutive year.

This year’s increase is .5 mills, from 30.0965 to 30.5965. That means property owners will pay $30.5965 in taxes per thousand dollars of assessed value. The median property value in Penn Hills School District is $74,000.

The 1.67% increase makes the district’s tax rate one of the highest in Allegheny County — based on 2021-22 numbers, only Brentwood Borough School District is higher, at 34.1187 mills.

The budget has $105,000,406 as the total amount available for appropriation. The number is the combined total of the estimated fund balance, revenues and other financing sources. The total budgeted expenditures amount to $97,542,582, with $7,457,824 in the unassigned fund balance.

All of this comes as Penn Hills School District is still trying to leave the financial recovery status that it was given following a scathing audit in 2016 that revealed the district to be more than $170 million in debt.

The district has since improved its financial status, as it has gone from a negative fund balance of $19 million to more than $7 million on the positive side. But the state is looking for the district to be able to survive financially without state-provided relief, and as a result, school board members said the increase is necessary to help get the district out of financial recovery status.

For taxpayers, though, the increase is mitigated by the Homestead and Farmstead Exclusion Rebate, which allows tax relief of up to one-half of the median assessed value of property that serves as a primary residence.

“We get (the Homestead and Farmstead Exclusion Rebate) now, so (residents) won’t even notice that they have a tax increase,” school board president Erin Vecchio said.

According to school officials, $2,974,271 from state gaming revenues is available to fund the tax rebate locally, with 11,561 homesteads approved.