County reveals revenue-neutral property tax rate
Fayette County’s revenue-neutral property tax rate for 2003 is 2.45 mills – down slightly from the 2.65 mills projected earlier this year – which means taxpayers would pay $24.75 for every $10,000 of assessed value on their property. James A. Hercik, CPE, the county’s chief assessor, said the county’s tax base increased nearly five times – from $831.46 million to $4.14 billion -under the three-year reassessment project set for implementation next year.
However, state law requires county, municipality and school district millage rates to be reduced proportionally. Hercik’s final figures show that among the county’s 42 municipalities, projected 2003 real estate tax rates range from a low of less than 1 mill in Wharton Township (actually .347th of a mill) to a high of 6.735 mills in Uniontown City.
The Wharton Township millage rate will “definitely change” once an appeal by the Nemacolin Woodlands resort is settled in court, noted Hercik. But many other municipalities have revenue-neutral 2003 assessments below 1 mill, including Dunbar Township (.578), BullskinTownship (.459), Franklin Township (.869), Menallen Township (.965) and South Union Township (.578).
“We have tried to assure people from day one that if the tax base when up five times, the millage rates would drop five times,” said Hercik. “Many taxpayers were not sure of this, or really never believed it would happen. I hope now (that) taxpayers see their new values and these rates and calculate their tax liability (to get the true picture).”
To calculate their county taxes, property owners should multiply their assessed value by 0.002475, which is the numerical equivalent of 2.45 mills.
All the latest property values should be added to the county’s Web site this week, said Hercik, who added that the long-range plan is to add all tax rates to the site, so taxpayers can see at a glance how their county, municipal and school district tax rates stack up.
Although state law allows the county and its municipalities (townships, boroughs and cities) to reap an additional 5 percent in total dollars during the year of a reassessment, and permits school districts to take in an extra 10 percent, those tax increases are optional.
“No taxing body can reap a windfall (beyond 5 or 10 percent) from the project,” said Hercik. County Commissioners Sean M. Cavanagh, Vincent A. Vicites and Ronald M. Nehls have pledged to hold the line and remain revenue-neutral.
The county’s reduction in millage rate for 2003 basically will carry through to its member municipalities, said Hercik. The slight drop in county millage occurred even after the county’s five Tax Assessment Appeals Boards handled 10,100 appeals in which the majority of appellants whose cases were heard received reductions.
Part of the reason for the lowered millage rate, according to Hercik, was that only 1,500 of the 8,000 property owners eligible to enroll in the Clean & Green Program actually did so. Hercik said the county had estimated that half of those eligible, or 4,000 property owners, would take advantage of the preferential assessment program.
“We originally calculated in what we thought would be a reduction in assessment from appeals, and from people enrolling in Clean & Green,” said Hercik. But fewer people took advantage of the program, with many stating that they were apprehensive about trading off future development rights for lower taxes, he said.
“They wanted to leave their options open,” said Hercik of a consensus voiced by Clean & Green director Bill Lukotch. “Others wanted to wait a year (before enrolling). They didn’t believe that the millage rate was going to drop down to 12 mills for the school district.”
As a result, Hercik predicted that the county would have another 1,500 Clean & Green applications next year.
Of the 10,100 appeal decisions rendered from July through the end of October, Hercik said that only 80 property owners have appealed their decisions to Fayette County Court. Notables among those appellants are state Rep. Larry Roberts (D-South Union), the J.C. Solomon Holiday Mobile Home Park in North Union Township and the Bruderhof community in Wharton Township.
Under the final 2003 assessment figures, which couldn’t be compiled until the conclusion of this year’s appeal hearings, South Union Township has the highest aggregate assessed value in the county at $508 million, up from 2002’s $117.4 million.
North Union Township is second at $382.4 million, up from $81.4 million. Bullskin Township is third at $269.5 million, up from $50.5 million. The city of Uniontown is fourth at $269.1 million, up from $67.5 million.
Wharton Township is fifth at $233 million, up from $46.2 million. Connellsville City is sixth at $162 million, up from $36 million. However, the projected millage rate for Connellsville City wasn’t calculated because of its unique two-tier tax structure on land.