McKeesport school tax hike likely
By JEFF STITT
jstitt@yourmvi.com
McKeesport Area School District Superintendent Dr. Mark Holtzman warned board directors during Thursday’s virtual meeting that he foresees a tax increase coming for 2020-21.
“We are in the process of putting together our preliminary budget and are determining what deficits we’re up against and how we can manage that based on our current fund balance,” Holtzman said. “Some of the expenses we’re going to see add up as part of this pandemic, the expenses with debt service, charter school tuition increases, pension costs and many, many other things that substantiate that unfortunately consideration needs to be made to raise taxes to the index.”
For 2020-2021, the base index is 2.6%, except for school districts with a market value/income aid ratio greater than 0.4%. MASD is one of those districts. It’s adjusted base index for the 2020-21 school year, which is determined by the state Department of Education, is 4%.
Retired business manager David Seropian said if the board were to increase taxes to the adjusted index, a property owner whose property is worth $75,000 would see a tax increase of about $55.
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