Property Tax Reform Efforts Heating Up
By Tony Romeo
PHILADELPHIA (CBS)--The State House and Senate appear to be moving on different tracks as property tax reform efforts heat up in the legislature once again, but a spokesman for the Senate majority leader says it doesn't mean the two are at odds.
Erik Arneson, spokesman for Chester Republican Dominic Pileggi, the Senate majority leader, says the priority for his boss is property tax relief for seniors.
"Under this proposal, the property tax bill for a senior citizen would be frozen at the level in a base year, for example, the year that we're in now. In the future, any increases in property taxes would not be paid by that senior citizen. The school district would essentially be reimbursed for that amount of revenue by the state."
The source of that state revenue is to be determined. Meantime, the House has sent the Senate a bill to give local school districts options to shift the burden from property taxes to other taxes.
Arneson believes there is more interest in the Senate concerning the bill affecting seniors but the House and Senate proposals are not mutually exclusive.
