HARRISBURG – Legislation will be forthcoming from Bucks County Rep. Kristin Marcell which will address unnecessary property tax increases. Currently, school districts are prohibited from approving a property tax increase unless they adopt a budget that includes an estimated ending unreserved, undesignated fund balance that is less than a certain percentage depending on the size of their budget. For most school districts, the unreserved, undesignated fund balance must be less than 8%. The problem is that often times, school districts will conduct accounting and procedural measures to shuffle money around in order to satisfy the 8% requirement. School districts can, and often times have, authorized property tax increases while having tens of millions of dollars “designated” for arbitrary or non-descriptive causes. The proposal applies the statutory percentage limitation to the entirety of a school district’s unrestricted fund balance. It will incorporate a school district’s committed, assigned, and unassigned fund balances. The goal is to require school districts to more fully use the money that they already have before imposing tax increases upon residents.
REP. KRISTIN MARCELL