Bethlehem Area School District Chief Financial Officer Stacy Gober and President Mike Faccinetto made a plea at the finance committee meeting last night for residents to contact local legislators regarding HB 1213 – legislation that may have dire impact on districts throughout the commonwealth.

Gober explained the bill restricts school districts from appealing property assessments for taxation to ensure they are not undervalued. She said 22 recently settled appeals out of 64 were worth $2.4 million, $927,000 of which is annually recurring. The estimated potential for remaining settlements could amount to more than $4 more.

Reasons for appealing that would be disallowed by the bill include:

• Sale or purchase of property

• Purchase or sale of interest in an entity legally holding a property title

• Financing or refinancing of a property, or

• Investments in a property to affect safety or disability elements or compliance

She said the bill not only removes fairness for taxing bodies to file appeals, but changes the criteria, disregarding appraisals or market value assessments.

Faccinetto said it will allow rapid and widespread devaluation of taxable properties to the detriment of school districts in Pennsylvania.

Gober suggested businesses and homes reassessed to lower levels could strip districts of as much as 20 percent of their revenue.

“We couldn’t recover,” from such a loss, she said.

The majority of Bethlehem homeowners would never be effected by an appeal. The BASD does not reassess households unless it would receive $10,000 or more in revenue; the average citywide is $3,300.

Faccinetto said, “This is a really scary piece of legislation. I see no benefit to it.”

He said legislators are tired of hearing from administrators; they need to hear from residents in the community.

House Bill 1213 will likely be on the floor for discussion in Harrisburg later this week.