Some State College residents will now be able to get a refund from the State College Area School District for taxes to pay for the high school project.
At its Monday night meeting, the State College school board approved a new property tax rebate program to help some of State College’s least affluent residents.
Applicants must be homeowners, and there is both an age and an income requirement. Applicants must have a household income of less than $35,000 per year. Applicants must also be 65 years or older, a widow or widower who is 50 years or older, or someone with a disability who is at least 18 years old.
Depending on household income, the rebates range from $250 to $650 and will be awarded on a first come, first served basis. Interested residents can apply between July 1, 2015 and June 30, 2016 and checks will be mailed on a monthly basis.
School district superintendent Robert O’Donnell said the idea for a rebate program first came up when the district was first pitching the idea of large-scale high school renovation to the community. Many senior citizens and other residents who live on a fixed income expressed concerns about how increased taxes would impact their standard of living, O’Donnell said.
The high school project – approved by a public referendum last year – will cost taxpayers $85 million dollars. The school district’s proposed 2015-2016 budget includes a 5.49 percent tax increase, most of which will go toward the new high school.
“I’m troubled by the age requirement, though I do understand the reasoning,” said board member Laurel Zydney. “But at the same time, this puts us in the position of dividing the populace by age when the whole idea is to give relief to those for whom the school taxes are an inordinate burden.”
Board member Scott Fozard called the rebate program “an imperfect situation.” He said that even though the board will renew the rebate program annually, he still had concerns that it would be very difficult to change the program after it was passed. Both Fozard and Zydney voted against the program, but were outnumbered by the rest of the board.
The board also trashed a contract with an outside firm that provides substitute teachers.
The school district has worked with the Pennsylvania-based Substitute Teacher Services for the past several years, but that changed on Monday night. The board voted 7-1 to bring the hiring and coordination of substitute teachers back in-house.
Board member Jim Pawelczyk suggested the switch back wasn’t necessary because the contract was originally portrayed as a savings for the district, and the contract did not cost more than expected. But school district human resources director Linda Pierce said new information shows that ending the contract will end up saving the district about $174,000 annually.
Pierce said the decision to end the contact with STS will reduce the pool of possible substitutes from about 260 to 160 teachers. The district will also have to create and hire a new substitute coordinator who will work closely with school principals and secretaries to keep track of the district’s substitute needs.
Pierce said hiring a new substitute coordinator will be a new cost to the district, but one that will be more than offset by the $174,000 in savings. Every board member except Pawelczyk voted to terminate the contract with STS.
The board also continued to nail down many of the small details of the high school project, with a focus on the buildings’ exact floor plans. One of the architecture firms involved in the design now estimates the project’s total cost at about $129 million, though only $85 million of that cost comes from the taxpayers.
Editor’s note: This story has been updated to clarify the application period for the rebate program.
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