Governor Rendell, Local Officials Urge Adequate Budget Funding to Avoid Property Tax Hikes

HERMITAGE, Pa. (Map) - HERMITAGE, Pa., July 11 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Pennsylvania's next state budget must adequately invest in education in order to avoid local property tax increases, Governor Edward G. Rendell said today during a visit to the Hermitage School District in Mercer County.

The Governor cautioned that a budget plan offered and approved by Senate Republicans would force school districts to hike property taxes and cut programs.

"I am not willing to accept their budget -- which is already $1.5 billion out of balance, as the economy has continued to slip -- because it is counter-productive to turning around our economy," Governor Rendell said. "In addition, a failure at the state level to fund essential programs and services simply shifts the tax burden to the local level."

The Governor was joined by officials including Mercer County Commissioner Kenneth Ammann, district superintendent Karen Ionta and school board president V.J. Ellenberger. They discussed how a failure by the General Assembly to adequately fund state-mandated services would create the need for local tax increases.

Governor Rendell stressed that he and his administration are working to balance the budget in the face of a struggling national economy, and said those efforts include making painful but necessary funding reductions to many important programs.

"Make no mistake -- we must make cuts to the budget, and we are. I have proposed $2 billion in cuts over the last year, and I recently announced $500 million in cuts -- many to programs for which I care deeply," the Governor said. "But I will not stand by and allow cuts that threaten our ability to dig ourselves out of this recession and compete in the long-run. And that is exactly what Senate Bill 850 does by cutting more than a billion dollars out of education funding."

The Governor noted that according to the General Assembly's own Costing-Out Report, the Hermitage School District is missing $2,760 per pupil from what it takes to provide a quality education. The school district is counting on the $418,000 basic education funding increase proposed by the Governor using stimulus funds that are intended for education. If the district does not get this increase they would have to decrease or eliminate essential programs and supports, such as technology and literacy coaches. The result of this shortfall would be an increase in property taxes next year.

"Now if the Senate takes away the school funding formula increase, Hermitage will have no choice but to empty its fund balance or to make drastic program cuts," the Governor added. "And that means that Hermitage and school districts like it will have only one place left to turn: to their homeowners in the form of higher local property taxes.

"We face an extraordinarily difficult budget situation as a result of the national recession, and we need to work in a bipartisan way to reach a solution," Governor Rendell said. "But let me be clear: balancing this budget on the backs of homeowners and students is no solution at all."

For more information on the 2009-10 education budget, visit www.pde.state.pa.us.

The Rendell administration is committed to creating a first-rate public education system, protecting our most vulnerable citizens and continuing economic investment to support our communities and businesses. To find out more about Governor Rendell's initiatives and to sign up for his newsletter, visit www.governor.state.pa.us.

CONTACT: Chuck Ardo 717-783-1116