THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF PENNSYLVANIA

SENATE BILL

INTRODUCED BY FERLO, FONTANA, STACK, COSTA, BROWNE, WOZNIAK AND BREWSTER, FEBRUARY 18, 2011

REFERRED TO FINANCE, FEBRUARY 18, 2011  

AN ACT

Amending the act of June 27, 2006 (1st Sp.Sess., P.L.1873,

No.1), entitled "An act providing for taxation by school

districts, for the State funds formula, for tax relief in

first class cities, for school district choice and voter

participation, for other school district options and for a

task force on school cost reduction; making an appropriation;

prohibiting prior authorized taxation; providing for

installment payment of taxes; restricting the power of

certain school districts to levy, assess and collect taxes;

and making related repeals," further providing for homestead

and farmstead exclusions.

The General Assembly of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania

hereby enacts as follows:

Section 1.  Sections 341 and 342 of the act of June 27, 2006

(1st Sp.Sess., P.L.1873, No.1), known as the Taxpayer Relief

Act, are amended to read:

Section 341.  Homestead and farmstead applications.

(a)  [(Reserved).] Availability of applications.--Each school

district and county assessor shall be required to make the

application and instructions to designate property as homestead

or farmstead property for purposes of receiving school district

property tax relief under this act available to property owners.

The applications shall be made available at the administrative

offices of the school district, the county assessor's office

and, if one is maintained, the school district's or county

assessor's Internet website. Notwithstanding any other provision

of law to the contrary, applications shall be available to

property owners at all times.

(b)  Annual notification.--

(1)  No later than 60 days prior to the application

deadline in subsection (c), a board of school directors shall

notify by first class mail the owner of each parcel of

residential property within the district of [the existence of

the school district's homestead and farmstead exclusion

program, the need to file an application in accordance with

53 Pa.C.S. § 8584(a) (relating to administration and

procedure) in order to qualify for the program and the

application deadline] all of the following:

(i)  The owner may qualify for State funds to reduce

school district property taxes on the owner's primary

residence.

(ii)  Funds used to reduce residential property taxes

are generated through taxes imposed on legalized gaming

in this Commonwealth's casinos and, if applicable, earned

income or personal income taxes levied by the school

district.

(iii)  The owner must apply for the property tax

reduction by March 1 and have such application approved

in order to receive the property tax reduction.

(iv)  That an application can be obtained from the

school district's or the county assessor's office.

(iv)  The name, mailing address and Internet website

of the entity with which the application shall be filed.

(v)  Failure of an owner to apply for property tax

reduction funds will result in the owner being ineligible

to receive property tax reduction funds for the upcoming

year.

A school district may limit the annual notification to owners

of residential property:

[(1)] (i)  who are not currently approved; or

[(2)] (ii)  whose approval is due to expire.

(2)  Beginning on January 1, 2012, the Department of

Community and Economic Development, each school district and

each county assessor shall publicize the existence of the

property tax relief program created pursuant to this act on

its Internet website, if it maintains such a website. The

website, at a minimum, shall provide the information required

under paragraph (1).

(c)  Application deadline.--In accordance with 53 Pa.C.S. §

8584(b), the deadline for filing an application with the

assessor shall be March 1.

(d)  Action on application.--Real property for which an

application has been filed by the application deadline shall be

deemed to be a homestead or farmstead property which is eligible

for a homestead or farmstead exclusion unless the assessor

denies the application. Denials of application by the assessor

and the right to appeal that decision shall be in accordance

with 53 Pa.C.S. § 8584(d) and (e).

(e)  Application review and submission.--Except as set forth

in 53 Pa.C.S. § 8584(j), an assessor shall not require the owner

of a previously approved property to resubmit an application

more than one time every [three] five years.

(f)  Applicability.--The provisions of 53 Pa.C.S. § 8584(f),

(g), (h) and (j) shall apply to any application filed under this

section.

(g)  Duties of assessors.--

(1)  The assessor shall mail to the owner of property for

which an application has been submitted and approved or

denied under this section notice of such fact no later than

30 days after receipt of the application.

(2)  (i)  The assessor shall notify, in writing, the

owner of any homestead or farmstead property designated

as such under any other statute of the need, if any, to

resubmit an application to maintain the property's

eligibility as a homestead or farmstead property.

(ii)  Nothing in this paragraph shall be construed to

prohibit a county assessor from designating property

previously determined to be homestead property under any

other statute as homestead or farmstead property for

purposes of this section.

(3)  The assessor shall provide each school district and

the Department of Community and Economic Development with a

certified report, as provided in 53 Pa.C.S. § 8584(i), no

later than May 1.

(4)  The assessor shall publicize the existence of the

school district property tax reduction program created

pursuant to this act on its Internet website in accordance

with subsection (b)(2).

(5)  In addition to the requirements of this section, the

assessor shall make applications available to property owners

at the office of the assessor on its Internet website.

(6)  No later than November 1 of each year, the assessor

shall submit an official copy of its application to the

Department of Community and Economic Development, which shall

post the application on its Internet website.

(h)  Uniform application and instructions.--[The application]

(1)  The Department of Community and Economic Development

shall develop the application and instructions to be used by

county assessors to designate property as homestead or

farmstead property for purposes of receiving school district

property tax relief. The application and instructions shall

[be uniform and shall include instructions for completing the

application. The Department of Community and Economic

Development shall develop a uniform application and

instructions to be used by county assessors and shall publish

the uniform application and instructions no later than 15

days after the effective date of this section. Nothing in

this subsection shall be construed to require the department

to develop and publish the uniform allocation and

instructions if the department did so during calendar year

2004.]:

(i)  be uniform in each county throughout this

Commonwealth;

(ii)  clearly state that the application must be

submitted by the property owner in order for the property

owner to be eligible for a school district property tax

reduction;

(iii)  inform the property owner that funds used to

reduce residential property taxes under this act are

generated through taxes imposed on legalized gaming in

this Commonwealth's casinos and, if applicable, earned

income or personal income taxes levied by the school

district;

(iv)  advise the property owner that he must apply

for the property tax reduction by March 1 of each year

and have such application approved in order to receive

the property tax reduction;

(v)  inform the property owner of the name, mailing

address and Internet website of the entity with which the

application shall be filed; and

(vi)  inform the property owner that failure of an

owner to apply for property tax reduction funds will

result in the owner being ineligible to receive property

tax reduction funds for the upcoming year.

(2)  The Department of Community and Economic Development

shall publish the uniform application and instructions

required under paragraph (1) in the Pennsylvania Bulletin and

on its Internet website no later than 30 days after the

effective date of this paragraph.

(i)  Prohibitions.--A county shall not require an application

fee for the filing or review of an application submitted under

this section or under 53 Pa.C.S. § 8584(a).

(j)  Applications previously filed.--An application filed

between September 3, 2004, and the effective date of this

section shall be used to qualify an applicant for the program.

Section 342.  Homestead and farmstead exclusion process.

Each fiscal year in which a school district imposes a tax

authorized under section 321 or receives a property tax

reduction allocation from gaming tax revenues pursuant to

Chapter 5, the district shall calculate a homestead and

farmstead exclusion for the purpose of reducing school district

property taxes. The school district shall adopt a resolution

implementing the homestead and farmstead exclusion no later than

the last day of the fiscal year immediately preceding the fiscal

year in which the homestead and farmstead exclusions shall take

effect.

Section 2.  The act is amended by adding a section to read:

Section 342.1.  Acknowledgment of receipt of funds from Property

Tax Relief Fund.

Upon receipt of notice from the department of the amount of

the school district's property tax allocation pursuant to

section 505(a)(4), and prior to adoption of the resolution

required under section 342 or a final budget for the upcoming

fiscal year, the governing body of each school district shall

adopt a separate resolution setting forth all of the following:

(1)  The amount of the school district's property tax

reduction allocation.

(2)  The amount each qualified homestead and farmstead

property owner will receive in school district property tax

relief from State gaming revenue based on the amount of the

school district's allocation identified in paragraph (1).

(3)  An estimate of the amount of additional property tax

relief to be received by the property owner based on any

earned income tax or personal income tax levied by the school

district, if applicable.

Section 3.  Section 343 of the act is amended to read:

Section 343.  School district tax notices.

(a)  Tax notice.--A [school district that implements

homestead and farmstead exclusions shall itemize the homestead

and farmstead exclusion on tax bills sent to homestead and

farmstead owners, indicating the original amount of tax

liability, the amount of the exclusion and the net amount of tax

due after the exclusion is applied. The tax bill shall be easily

understandable and include a notice pursuant to subsection (b).]

school district tax bill sent to a homestead or farmstead

property owner shall include an itemized list of the following

information:

(1)  The property owner's tax liability.

(2)  The property owner's assessment.

(3)  The amount that the property owner's assessment has

been reduced as a result of a homestead and farmstead

exclusion.

(4)  The amount of property tax relief received by the

property owner for the fiscal year from proceeds from

legalized gaming within this Commonwealth as certified under

section 342.1(2).

(5)  The estimated amount of property tax relief received

by the property owner for the fiscal year from revenues on

any earned income tax or personal income tax levied by the

school district, if applicable, as certified under section

342.1(3).

(6)  The dollar amount of any millage rate increase

adopted by the governing body for the upcoming fiscal year.

The tax bill shall be easily understandable and include a notice

pursuant to subsection (b).

(b)  Notice of property tax relief.--[A school district that

implements homestead and farmstead exclusions] Each school

district shall include with the homestead or farmstead owner's

tax bill a notice that the [tax bill includes a homestead or

farmstead exclusion] individual has received property tax relief

generated through taxes imposed on legalized gaming in this

Commonwealth's casinos and, if applicable, earned income taxes

levied by the school district. The notice shall at a minimum

take the following form:

NOTICE OF PROPERTY TAX RELIEF

Your enclosed tax bill includes a tax reduction [for your

homestead and/or farmstead property. As an eligible homestead

and/or farmstead property owner, you have received tax relief

through a homestead and/or farmstead exclusion] which has been

provided under the Pennsylvania Taxpayer Relief Act, a law

passed by the Pennsylvania General Assembly designed to reduce

your property taxes through taxes imposed on legalized gaming in

this Commonwealth's casinos and earned income or personal income

taxes levied by the school district. To date, you have received

$     in property tax relief through taxes imposed on legalized

gaming in this Commonwealth's casinos. However, this amount does

not reflect any property tax increases imposed by the board of

school directors during that same period.

Section 4.  This act shall take effect in 60 days.