We need reassessments more frequently
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If you’re a property owner or have a stake in a local school system, do you feel insulted knowing your school district is swimming in red ink when you felt so sure elected officials had a keen eye on the kitty after you fed it with years of hard-earned tax dollars? Is it the fault of our elected officials or ourselves?
The first thing we need to do is stop pointing fingers. It will not resolve our revenue problems. Pennsylvania history will show the whirlwind of taxation started around the late 1940s and hasn’t stopped since.
The first mistake occurred when school districts were permitted to have their own superintendents, rather than there being one, countywide superintendent. Other forms of administration have grown. Most districts closed smaller buildings and built new schools. Since children ride buses in most districts, bringing homemade lunches has become a nuisance, so cafeterias have been built. More teachers, requiring salaries and benefits, were hired.
Why was the county superintendent position eliminated?
At the same time, earned income started to be taxed. Wages and benefits were low in schools, so the combination of earned-income and real estate taxes seemed to be sufficient to support our local schools, along with help from the state. Prior the last reassessment in Washington County, in the early 1980s, no one seemed to feel the tax obligations were too bad. People believed in government and people believed in their children’s education.
It is not exactly fair to blame our professional employees, nor is it fair to blame our elected officials for the current situation. Let us take some of this blame for letting things get out of hand around 1980. Who asked for a reassessment of property or a rate increase on our earnings to beat the rising costs of school, municipal and county operations these last 35 years? Did we ever hear of a busload of school board members gathering on the steps of the county courthouse or in Harrisburg demanding a reassessment of property so tax revenues would increase? No, we never heard of such a march, did we?
Our communities have changed drastically over the last 40 years, with both new development and refurbished homes. A reassessment is needed more frequently than once every 30 or 40 years. Now, homeowners are fearing what the current reassessment is going to do to their tax obligations.
Joann Diesel
Washington