HARRISBURG PA – A last-minute property-tax reform measure that seems sure to restrict the Pottsgrove, Spring-Ford Area and Pottstown school districts – and the hundreds of others across the state – in their ability to raise property taxes above set limits is now part of a new state budget signed into law by Gov. Tom Corbett, according to The Pennsylvania Independent online news service.

Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Corbett

The reform eliminated most so-called exceptions in Act 1 of 2006. When originally passed, the act was intended to restrict school districts from raising property taxes above an index, or pre-set level, determined by the state Department of Education. Its exceptions, however, let the districts bypass the index under special circumstances like new school construction.

With about 15 minutes remaining in the fiscal year, Corbett on Thursday (June 30, 2011) signed the budget package that avoids broad-based tax increases, reduces Pennsylvania’s overall basic education funding by $800 million, and also wipes out 11 of 13 former exceptions in Act 1.

“It seems the new philosophy on how to reduce government is to starve it, regardless of the legitimacy of the programs,” state Sen. John Wozniak told The Independent. “We’re preventing (school districts) from raising taxes locally, and we’re cutting them from the top. That’s a double play in a very difficult year.”

• Read a story by reporter Eric Boehm, titled “Property tax reform final piece of state budget” and published Friday (July 1) by The Independent, here.