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Committee keeps real-estate tax installment schedule and 7.5% penalty for now; members ask for study of rate change
Summary
The finance committee reviewed the district’s six-installment real-estate tax schedule and voted to keep the current 7.5% penalty rate. Board members asked staff to study a potential phased increase to 10% and to plan earlier community outreach if the penalty is raised next year.
The North Penn School District Finance Committee reviewed the district’s real-estate tax installment schedule and penalty amounts and voted to leave the current schedule and 7.5% penalty unchanged while requesting more analysis for future changes.
Mr. Linderman explained the district’s installment calendar (six installments over the year) and recommended keeping the current schedule and penalty. He noted the board commonly sets the schedule annually and that the district received no recommendation to change immediately.
Dr. G suggested aligning the penalty with other districts at 10% and cited an estimate from a staff member that increasing the penalty to 10% could yield roughly $120,000 in additional revenue. Several board members pushed for more formal analysis and for earlier communication to taxpayers if a change is adopted in the future. Mrs. Stoll and others asked staff to consider phased approaches to increase the penalty gradually, and to include the issue in early budget discussions next year.
Linderman clarified statutory treatment of installments, noting that Act 1 guidance allows penalties on late installments and that in practice a late last payment can trigger a penalty on the full amount. He also reported there were 687 taxpayers on installment plans out of about 24,000 parcels in the district for the current year, a small portion of the taxpayer base.
A motion to move the installment schedule and penalty forward (no change) to the next meeting was made and carried.
