Feb 5, 2018 2 min read

As a recently elected member of the Canton Township Board of Supervisors, I have been reviewing the taxes and other issues that concern township residents. In addition to looking at lots of numbers, this also involved talking to many residents. This review is the reason for this letter.

Every person I had the opportunity to meet identified the same issue as their major concern – property taxes. Every year, they are finding it more difficult to keep their homes due to this archaic form of funding services, especially local schools.

The Trinity Area School District, after the reassessment, raised the taxes of some individual property owners by hundreds and even thousands of dollars. This is outrageous, and requires a succinct explanation and some type of plan by the district to alleviate the burden being borne by residents.

Figures compiled by Washington County indicate that Trinity had a windfall of approximately $5 million. It was the only district in Washington County to have a multimillion-dollar discrepancy with the county figures. Despite several inquiries by the county, Trinity and the state Department of Education have not been able to provide a satisfactory reason for this windfall.

According to one article appearing in the Observer-Reporter, one district administrator tried to justify the huge tax increases by stating that he “took it on the chin” because he also experienced a large tax increase. However, this information should be of little solace to most senior citizens living on a fixed income, because he failed to mention that the salary increases for some Trinity administrators ranged from $15,000 to $19,000.

In addition to explaining this windfall, the Trinity Area School Board needs to study how the referendum approved by the electorate in the last election would impact its budget. If ever implemented, it would exempt residents from paying school taxes on their primary residences, and alleviate the difficulty many are having in saving their homes.

Thomas Bodnovich

Washington