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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE |
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State Rep. Jesse White
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To: Editor, PA Focus
From: State Rep. Jesse White, D-Washington/Allegheny/Beaver
Re: Local share funding
Slots and Property Taxes:
The Real Truth
Many of you who follow the news saw the recent stories about the Washington
County local share funds from the Meadows Casino. I want to make sure you have
the facts.
The biggest complaint I hear about slots money is that it was supposed to go to
property tax relief. If you look at your school tax bill this year, it clearly
states that you did in fact get property tax relief from the slots. Some school
districts raised taxes this year, which made the tax relief look like less than
it was, but that’s something you need to discuss with your local school board.
The fact is that the legislature did begin to deliver on its promise of
property tax relief, and that money will continue to increase in the years to
come.
Thirty-four cents out of every dollar spent in a slot machine in any casino
statewide goes directly into the Property Tax Relief Fund. The law (before I
was elected to the legislature) specified that the relief fund had to reach a
reserve of $570 million, and then the money would be used to provide property
tax relief for anyone who filed a Homestead Exemption with his or her county. We
all got property tax relief this year, but it was only about $170 on average in
Washington County because the biggest casinos (the ones in Pittsburgh and
Philadelphia) haven’t been built yet.
The Washington County local share money is a
totally different source of cash. Local share is given to the host county of a
casino based on about 2 percent of its income every year. Washington County is
expected to receive about $12 million in local share money from the Meadows
this year.
The law is crystal clear that the money must be spent on projects dealing with
economic development and community improvement. This portion of the money was
never designated for property tax relief, and by law, it cannot be used for
additional property tax relief.
Last year, the Washington County Commissioners established a local share review
panel to evaluate applications and recommend projects to fund. As a member of
that review panel, I worked with the other legislators from Washington County
to prepare a proposal that included dedicated money to make water and sewage
projects affordable for residents and plans to establish a "Hometown
Project Fund" to bring money to our small communities for much-needed
projects.
We held four public hearings around the county and worked hard to come up with
a system that would address the many complaints about the way the money was
allocated last year. When we presented our proposal to the county commissioners
last week, not only did they flatly reject our ideas, but the idea of
additional property tax relief was suggested to the media and the public.
I’m all for property tax relief, but it just isn’t possible to use the local share
money for it because of the way the law is written. Look beyond the political
gamesmanship and see what is really happening here; it’s the only way we will
be able to get the local share money to our communities where it belongs.
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