School districts all over Pennsylvania are adopting their new budgets. I have yet to hear of one district that isn't raising taxes again. We have Gov. Ed Rendell and our representatives in the Pennsylvania Legislature for sticking it to the taxpayers once again.
My school district in Berks County just approved its new budget. I've lived in the district for 14 years and my taxes have risen 14 times.
The Antietam School Board voted 7-2 this week to approve its 2007-08 budget of $13.2 million. That's a $665,000 increase over the current year's budget of $12.5 million. The School Board also voted 7-2 to raise property taxes for district residents by 5.3 percent to blance the 2007-08 budget.
Antietam, which covers the borough of Mount Penn and the township of Lower Alsace, has the highest school property tax rate in Berks County at 30.80 mills. That means that a homeowner whose property is assessed at $100,000 will pay $3,080 in school property taxes.
The bill will be coming in July. You can thank the seven members of the current school board for the tax hike, but let's not forget Gov. Rendell, who has promised to lower property taxes for five years in a row, but still hasn't delivered 1 cent in property tax relief to homeowners.
And let's not forget state Sen. Michael A. O'Pake and state Rep. Dante Santoni. Both of these career politicians have been promising for decades to do something about property taxes. We're still waiting. Keep in mind that both O'Pake and Santoni will seek re-election in 2008.
O'Pake and Santoni have failed taxpayers repeatedly. It's time to end the status quo in Harrisburg and elect people who will fight for taxpayers, not line their own pockets and ignore the wishes of the people.
Unlike the residents of Mount Penn and Lower Alsace who have to struggle to pay their property taxes, O'Pake and Santoni gave themselves automatic annual pay raises (unless the Legislature votes to turn the money down). That hasn't happened yet.
The only members of the Antietam School Board who sided with taxpayers are John Fielding and Lisa Iezzi. Both voted against the budget and against the tax increase.
The rest of the board members will tell you that they had no choice but to raise taxes because the state doesn't provide adequate funding for public education. The may have a point, but how is it that the cost of running a school district rises at twice the rate of inflation every year? It's too easy for local school boards to pass tax hikes and blame it on the state.
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