Harmar again considers lowering property taxes for homeowners

For the third time in four years, the Harmar supervisors want to decrease real estate taxes for township homeowners.

The tax cut would come in the form of homestead tax exemptions that reduce the assessed value of homes for tax purposes.

Allegheny County offers homeowners an $18,000 decrease in the assessed value of their homes when calculating county real estate taxes, and each taxing body can offer its own reduction.

Harmar is proposing an additional $10,000 reduction in assessed valuation. That’s on top of the combined $20,000 in homestead tax exemptions that the township has added in recent years.

“We decided we wanted to find a way to lower the taxes based on assessments, all residential assessments,” said Supervisors Chairman Bob Seibert.

To qualify for an exemption, township residents must submit an application to the county and own and occupy their home as their primary residence.

In Harmar, a property owner with a house assessed at $100,000 this year owed $345 in township real estate. If supervisors approve the $10,000 decrease, the same house would be assessed at $90,000 and the property owner would owe $310.5.

That’s a savings of $34.50 over this year and $103.50 over what it had been in 2016.

Supervisors cut residential assessment values by $10,000 in both 2017 and 2018, according to Ian Fitzgerald, Harmar’s secretary/treasurer.

Fitzgerald did not know how many residents have taken advantage of the program by applying for an exemption.

Supervisors’ decision to decrease residential assessed values does not apply to other real estate taxes levied by the county or the school district.

The $2.7 million preliminary budget approved by the supervisors does not include an increase in the township’s millage rate.

The supervisors are scheduled to pass a final budget at 6 p.m. Dec. 19 at the township municipal building, 701 Freeport Road. Supervisors also plan to vote to decrease residential home values at the same meeting.