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Westmoreland County board adopts 20.5% personal property tax relief for 2024; moves to closed session on administrator candidates
Summary
At a regular meeting, Westmoreland County officials voted unanimously to set personal property tax relief (PPTR) at 20.5% for tax year 2024 after a presentation by Commissioner of Revenue Hoover; the board then approved entering closed session to interview candidates for county administrator.
Westmoreland County officials voted unanimously to set personal property tax relief (PPTR) at 20.5% for tax year 2024 after a presentation by Commissioner of Revenue Mister Hoover that outlined state reimbursement and local funding scenarios.
Mister Hoover told the board that three tables he provided compared possible PPTR rates — 20%, 20.5% and 21% — alongside the county’s fixed state reimbursement. "My recommendation would be the 20 and a half percent for personal property tax relief for tax year 2024," Hoover said, explaining the county had no excess PPTR funds to add on this year and therefore could not sustain the 22% level used the previous year.
The recommendation spurred a brief discussion about fiscal prudence. A board member warned, "We can't be in the same position we were in last year because we had to borrow too heavy into our money," and asked whether disciplined spending would make the 20.5% rate feasible. Hoover emphasized the legal limits and purpose of the funds, citing the state reimbursement statute as stated in the transcript and clarifying eligible property types: "personal use vehicles, motorcycles, passenger vehicles, light duty trucks" (panel trucks or vehicles up to 10,000 pounds), and noting that boats, campers and trailers are excluded.
Following the discussion a motion was made to adopt Hoover's recommendation of 20.5% for tax year 2024. The motion was seconded and the board voted in favor: Mister Trivette, Mister Ingram, Mister McCormick and Miss Henson each voted "Aye," and the chair also voted "Aye." The chair announced the motion carried.
Shortly after the vote, the chair moved that the board go into closed session under the cited code (verbatim from the record: "2.2 dash 3 7 1 1 point a 1") for "discussion, consideration, or interview of prospective candidates for employment regarding the next candidate administrator." The motion was seconded and approved, and the board proceeded to closed session to conduct candidate interviews.
The board’s action fixes the PPTR percentage at 20.5% for the coming tax year and sets in motion the confidential process of interviewing finalists for the county administrator role. The meeting then moved into closed session to continue hiring deliberations.
