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Monroeville tax collector outlines history and potential savings of homestead exemption
Summary
Tax collector Pat Fulkerson reviewed the borough—s previous homestead exemption ordinance and estimated potential homeowner savings if the exemption were reinstated; council received the presentation and will consider next steps at future meetings.
Tax collector Pat Fulkerson appeared during the citizens—-night public comment period on May 6 to review the history of Monroeville—s local homestead exemption and to estimate how much homeowners might save if the borough reinstated the deduction.
Fulkerson said the borough—s homestead exemption was deleted in 2010 and cited the ordinance that repealed it. He told council the local homestead previously reduced taxable assessed value by $15,000 for qualifying residential properties under local ordinance 2466 and said Allegheny County and the local school district also administer homestead programs tied to state Act 1 reimbursement.
Why it matters: a local homestead exemption reduces taxable assessed value for qualifying owner-occupied residential properties and can affect the amount of property tax a homeowner pays; adopting such an exemption is a local legislative action that requires an ordinance.
Fulkerson estimated that about 7,400 Monroeville homesteads would have qualified this year and that reinstating the exemption could reduce total tax receipts for the municipality by roughly $750,000 annually if structured as a $100-per-homestead reduction in tax bills. He told council, "If you had the homestead this year, it would have came out to about almost 3 fourths of a million, $750,000." The tax collector also said an exemption could be structured as an amount (for example, $18,000 of assessed value excluded) and noted that commercial properties do not qualify.
Council did not act on the matter during the May 6 agenda-setting meeting; staff described Fulkerson—s remarks as a presentation by the tax collector. The mayor said the item would be considered further in a future meeting. Council members and staff may request more detailed fiscal impact analyses before any ordinance is drafted or considered for adoption.
