PV Schools Request Tax Decrease for 2025
Pymatuning Valley School District Requests Tax Decrease for 2025
Jefferson- It is not everyday that government voluntarily gives up tax revenue but that is what County Auditor David Thomas is asking local entities in Ashtabula County to do in the wake of huge tax jumps and Pymatuning Local School District has risen to the occasion.
“I met with Pymatuning Valley Superintendent Chris Edison, Treasurer Tom Brockway, and Board Member Curt Harvey recently and had a good conversation over their budget needs vs taxpayer relief,” said Auditor David Thomas.
The group agreed to lower the tax rate and revenue paid to Pymatuning Valley Schools by property tax payers in the district next year. The school will decrease their Emergency Levy tax rate from 4.5 Mills down to 2.5 Mills as a way to give property tax relief to their residents.
“With the significant increase in property tax revenues comes additional tax burden stress for our Laker community which was greatly concerning to our School Board because we pride ourselves on only asking our Taxpayers for what we need,” said Treasurer Tom Brockway.
The decrease in tax rate will mean a $70 savings for the average $100,000 home. “In the PV School District, we saw a large increase in agriculture values and property values in general from market activity, so the average property owner will likely see a larger savings than this from the PV School’s action,” explained Auditor David Thomas.
The Emergency Levy was last passed by the voters in 2019 and generates currently $1.1 Million. The move by the School District and County Budget Commission to decrease the tax rate to 2.5 mills would lower that revenue to $603,032 meaning a roughly $580,000 tax savings to property owners.
“This is an act of paying it forward with our Laker community. The People of Pymatuning Valley have for a long time looked after and have taken good care of Pymatuning Valley Local School District as an institution. Our ask is that they continue to support our school district and continue to have faith in our School Board along with our Administration for us to continue to do right by them,” said Superintendent Christopher Edison.
The County Auditor’s Office will be holding several townhalls this Spring to discuss the 2023 State Mandated Triennial Property Value and Tax Update including a meeting at the Pymatuning Valley High School on Thursday, February 8th at 6:30pm. Auditor Thomas will answer questions on value updates, tax credits, school funding, and other topics for area property owners.
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