Freeport Area could raise taxes next year based on higher state inflation index

Freeport Area school directors will have more leeway to raise real estate taxes for 2024-25 than in the past 11 years.

Brad Walker, Freeport Area’s director of finance and operations, said the district’s real estate tax inflation index calculated by the state will be 7.1% for the next school year.

Currently, the school tax rate for Buffalo Township, the district’s lone Butler County community, is 170.38 mills, and the rate for Freeport and South Buffalo, the Armstrong County communities, is 68.02 mills. The difference is due to how each county does tax assessments.

Under the index, the school board, if it chooses, could raise taxes in Buffalo Township by a maximum of 12.09 mills and in Freeport and South Buffalo by a maximum of 4.9 mills.

Based on that information, Walker recommended that the board approve an accelerated budget opt-out resolution, which it did.

That resolution means the district is certifying that its tax rate for the coming year will stay within that index under state Act 1 of 2006.

Districts that do not believe their financial needs in the next school year will be covered under the taxing limit of the index can opt to raise taxes at a rate greater than the index. However, to do that districts have to accelerate their budgeting process since any such proposed tax increase would have to be approved directly by the voters in a referendum.

As a general rule, most districts choose to stay within the index.

Before the 2024-25 index, the highest the index had been for Freeport Area since 2013-14 was 5.4%, the figure for the current school year, according to figures provided by the state.

For the first three years of that time period, the index was below 3% and then under 4% for the next six years. It topped 4% in 2022-23 when it rose to 4.5% and exceeded 5% for this year.

Freeport Area’s index jump for next year is still lower than it is for four other districts that include Armstrong County communities. They are: Kiski Area, 7.3%; Armstrong School District, 7.6%; Leechburg Area, 7.7%; and Apollo-Ridge, 7.9%.