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From: Sen. Costa
Date: 5/8/2002
Time: 10:00:27 AM
Remote Name: 172.23.141.86
Escalating property taxes remain a major concern to homeowners throughout the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, and in many cases the problem is only getting worse. As you are well aware, property owners in Pennsylvania carry the burden of funding their county, municipality and schools based on the assessed value of their property. This is a system that has been in place for decades, but in the past several years, many Pennsylvanians have begun to feel an increased financial burden due to property taxes. In my county alone, Allegheny County, 2002 assessments were viewed as over-valuing low-priced homes and under-faluing higher-priced properties, leaving a rate of increase over the two-year period too high for many families to bear. In addition, many of the homeowners who successfully appealed their 2001 assessment saw the value of their property shoot up in 2002 to equal or even greater than the 2001 value.
In response to this problem, my colleagues in the General Assembly and I have introduced a number of bills and resolutions to alleviate the burden of property taxes or to eliminate this type of tax altogether.The Senate recently passed a budget amendment that would distribute $424 million among Pennsylvania school districts, assigning approximately 41 percent of that amount to a dollar-for-dollar tax reduction. Following years of stagnant property tax relief initiatives, this action will hopefully serve as a building block for the future.
I welcome this opportunity to respond to any questions that you may have relevant to property taxes. You may begin your questions at this time.