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Committee moves tax‑exempt property relief bill after amendment creating tiered grant caps; debate centers on targeting and budget impact
Summary
House Bill 9 85, the Tax Exempt Property Municipal Assistance Act, was amended to add a tiered per‑resident cap and a recalculation process; the committee inserted Amendment A01300 by a 14-12 vote and reported the bill 14-12 amid debate over budget effects and distributional fairness.
House Bill 9 85, sponsored by Chairman Freeman, would establish the Tax Exempt Property Municipal Assistance Act and create a Tax Exempt Property Municipal Assistance Fund to distribute liquor tax revenues (Act 4 of 1936, the Johnstown flood tax) to municipalities with high percentages of tax‑exempt property.
Under the bill’s base eligibility criteria, a municipality qualifies if either (1) tax‑exempt property equals or exceeds 15% of its total assessed value, or (2) the municipality’s median household income is within 115% of the statewide median, according to the U.S. Census Bureau’s American Community Survey one‑year estimate. The original draft capped award amounts at $100 per resident and a municipality could not receive more than 10% of total funds in a year.
Amendment A01300 (offered by Chairman Freeman) replaces the uniform $100 cap with a tiered per‑resident maximum tied to a municipality’s median household income relative to the…
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