For the 10th straight year, property owners in the Montour School District will get by without any increases in their school taxes.
But that’s a trend that could change in the not-too-distant future.
That’s the word from district superintendent Christopher Stone and Anna Borsos, the district’s director of finance.
The district’s board of education adopted the 2025-26 budget late last month, as did school boards in the other four West Hills area districts – Carlynton, Cornell, Moon and Sto-Rox.
Carlynton was the only other district in the West Hills to hold the line on property taxes.
Montour’s tax rate stayed at 17.9638 mills, the same as it’s been since the 2016-17 tax year. That year’s millage rate represented a 4.3% increase over the previous year. For the new year, the tax bill for the average home valued at $147,600 will be $2,651.
Stone said the district is proud of the fact that it’s been able to hold the line on taxes for 10 straight years.
“I don’t know if anyone else in (Allegheny County) can say that,” he said. “But I don’t know how much longer we can go without inquiring internally if we can increase. There may be an increase a year or two down the road.”
Stone said the district had to dip into its $23.5 million fund balance to the tune of about $2 million to balance this year’s $83.5 million budget.
Stone said the main reason the district might have to increase taxes in the coming years is because a number of commercial property owners have successfully appealed their property assessments, and those reduced values produce less tax revenue for the district.
“We’ve lost $140 million in assessed value, which equates to $4 million in lost revenue over the last 18 months,” Stone said. “Unfortunately, that’s going to hit our pocketbook.”
Added to the reassessments is the fact that Montour has had to repay some money that already had been collected after property owners successfully appealed their assessed values. Borsos said that in the 2023-24 year, the district had to pay over $4 million in tax refunds, and this year she pegged the number at $1.6 million.
“They’re coming down, but we’re still seeing some significant refunds,” she said.
Stone said that when you factor in the district losing $4 million in revenue due to revised assessments and having to pay out millions in refunds, “That’s a huge hit.”
One piece of property that saw its assessed value fall significantly is The Mall at Robinson. Stone estimated the mall’s value has fallen by nearly 50%, and some other hotels and big-box stores in the township also fell in value.
The Montour district is aided by the fact that there is some residential development, which generates tax revenue.
“We’re grateful for that,” Stone said. “But it takes a lot of houses to make up for a $900,000 (reduction in value) for The Mall at Robinson.”
Stone said the district would like to see a countywide reassessment of property values but added “that’s a solution that no one wants to address.”
Stone said the district still has what he called a “healthy” fund balance. “But we can’t keep dipping into that without raising taxes to balance the budget,” he said. “I think we’re going to have to consider, in the next two years, raising taxes.”
Added to the mix is that it’s simply more expensive to do business today, a fact that applies to all school districts.
“From my internal research, this year alone, 70% of districts in the county have had to raise taxes,” Stone said. “A lot of that pertains to the tax appeals. Not to mention everything is more expensive. Salaries are up, paper costs, computer costs, utility bills have gone up. It’s an unfortunate situation, but we’re lucky we’re able to provide a world-class education at Montour.”
Another factor that has worked against school districts this year is the end of federal COVID relief funds. Borsos said the district received about $400,000 last year and roughly $5 million combined over a four-year period. Those funds were used to fund salaries and pay for supplies – floor scrubbers, for example.
“We did a lot with COVID relief funds,” Borsos said. “We hired reading coaches, and we’ve kept those positions because they’re good for our students.”
Borsos characterized the loss in tax revenue triggered by the assessment appeals and the loss of COVID relief funds as a “double-whammy.”
While all districts felt a hit from the COVID relief funds going away, not every district is affected equally by the assessment appeals. Stone said that some districts such as Montour and West Allegheny, which have a larger commercial tax base, have been hurt more than other districts that have a large residential tax base.
“They don’t realize the same hit that Montour and West Allegheny are taking,” Stone said.
Carlynton
Carlynton is the only other district in the area that did not raise taxes. District Superintendent John Kreider said the board’s decision to hold the line while adopting its $37.5 million budget “reflects our ongoing effort to be fiscally responsible while continuing to invest in high-priority areas that support our students, staff and the community.”
While property owners in the Carlynton area received a reprieve this year, it’s the first time in at least 10 years that the tax rate hasn’t gone up. For the 2014-15 year, the millage rate was 19.6040 and this year it’s at 28.5082. That’s a 45% increase over that time.
Kreider said the new budget includes investments in additional personnel to aid in classroom instruction and support, enhanced safety and security measures in all school buildings, expanded technology support for students, staff and families, new English Language Arts and math instructional material for specialized classrooms, growth in K-12 STEAM — science, technology, engineering, arts, and mathematics – programs, increased support for English language learners and a new college in the high school program that allows students to earn college credits at Carlynton.
Cornell
Cornell’s board adopted a budget of just under $19 million and set a real estate tax rate of 27.8313 mills – an increase of 4.8%. That translates into an annual tax increase of $93 for homeowners, based on a median assessed home value of $72,900.
Robert Geletko, Cornell’s business manager/board secretary, said the disappearance of federal funding tied to COVID relief, salary and benefit increases, charter school tuition, special ed outside placement tuition and transportation costs factored into the millage increase.
“Everything’s going up,” he said.
Moon
Property owners in Moon also will be paying more in taxes as a result of the $100 million budget that the board officially adopted Monday, June 30. The board set the tax rate of 25.2831 vs. last year’s rate of 24.5467 – an increase of 3%. As a result, the owner of the average home in the district – valued at $168,665 – will pay $124 more in taxes this year.
Jason D’Alesio, Moon’s superintendent, said the district could have increased taxes by 4.9%, based on its Act 1 index, to keep up with inflation and necessary spending increases.
“But we don’t like to raise it to the index because we know that’s a burden to our families,” he said.
However, D’Alesio said that a raise in the amount of 3% was warranted “so we’re not putting ourselves in a situation that could potentially hurt us later.”
Sto-Rox
Sto-Rox’s tax rate was set at 31.7837 for the new year – an increase of 6.3% over last year – to help fund its $39.9 million budget.
That means the owner of the average home in the district will pay $1,653 this year in school taxes vs. $1,555 last year, an increase of $98.
Roughly 61% of the district’s budget — $24.4 million — will be dedicated to instruction and another $13.3 million is earmarked for support services.
(Freelance writer Carrie Moniot contributed to this story.)
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