LAWRENCE COUNTY Officials change tax-assessment ratio
The county millage rate will likely drop to about 4 mills.
By LAURE CIOFFI
VINDICATOR NEW CASTLE BUREAU
NEW CASTLE, Pa. -- Figuring out the tax value of a property in Lawrence County will now be as simple as knowing how much a piece of property will sell for on the open market.
County commissioners formally agreed to set the predetermined ratio at 100 percent upon the implementation of reassessment. The county was previously taking 75 percent of property's fair market value and determining taxes from that amount.
"We hope this will make it more simple so people will understand," Commissioner Roger DeCarbo said.
Commissioners have said the 75 percent predetermined ratio was confusing for most people. But before 1999, state law didn't permit the county to go above it, Commissioner Brian Burick said.
The change will mean the county, all municipalities and school districts must adjust their millage to reflect the change.
The county's millage rate will likely drop from 27.4 mills to about 4 mills with the change, Commissioner Ed Fosnaught said.
Mills worth more
Although the millage rate will drop, the value of a mill will increase to enable the county to bring in the same amount of money next year. A mill of tax now worth about $400,000 will be worth about $3.3 million under the new tax ratio.
The county and municipalities can see only a 5 percent windfall in taxes with the change. School districts can collect an extra 10 percent in taxes when the predetermined ratio is changed. If the change in ratio would increase their tax revenues by more than those percentages, millage must be reduced.