This article was originally published in The Notebook. In August 2020, The Notebook became Chalkbeat Philadelphia.
Gov. Wolf wants to cut property taxes and keep them low, but not just by shoveling more state aid toward Pennsylvania’s school districts – his proposal would also attach more strings to their taxing power.
Right now, school districts are permitted to increase property taxes while hanging on to a certain amount of surplus funding. Depending on their overall spending, school districts can keep 8 to 12 percent of their budgets in reserve, even if they’re not earmarking the money for some future expense.
State Budget Secretary Randy Albright said Monday that the administration wants to cap reserves at 4 percent for all school districts, "meaning that if a district had more than 4 percent in fund balance, then they would not be able to increase their local property taxes at all."