The Wilkinsburg Municipal Building. (Photo by Ryan Loew/PublicSource)
Wilkinsburg would automatically become part of Pittsburgh’s school district, with a dramatic effect on property tax rates.
by Charlie Wolfson, PublicSource
Three takeaways from this story:
- If Wilkinsburg is annexed by Pittsburgh, the Wilkinsburg School District would be absorbed by Pittsburgh Public Schools and residents would pay the much lower Pittsburgh school property tax millage.
- Home value reassessments are possible on a case-by-case basis but a sweeping, boroughwide reassessment is unlikely.
- Annexation would greatly reduce Wilkinsburg residents’ property taxes, but their income and deed transfer taxes would increase.
Wilkinsburg’s unusually high property tax rates have long been a pain point for its residents. A local group focused on economic development is pitching annexation of the borough into Pittsburgh as a solution to that.
While there are many complex issues to sort out when weighing annexation (municipal employee contracts, schools, development and zoning to name a few), it is clear that Wilkinsburg residents’ property taxes would drop significantly if it happened.
Much of the reduction would be caused by the Wilkinsburg school district being absorbed into Pittsburgh’s school district — which four local lawyers and others involved in the process told PublicSource is a legal certainty if annexation takes place.
PublicSource took a closer look at local tax obligations to find out how they might change for Wilkinsburg residents if the push for annexation is successful.
Read entire article here