Bristol Forum on School Tax Reform is SRO

The plan to fundamentally change how Pennsylvania’s property tax system works was on full display last night at the Bristol Borough Municipal Building as the issue continues to gain momentum in Lower Bucks County.

State Representative John Galloway hosted a forum covering the in and outs of House Bill 76, also known as The Property Tax Independence Act.

The standing room only crowd, which included officials from Bristol, Bristol Township and Falls, sat enthralled throughout the entire forum often cheering  illustrated points supporting the bill.

Galloway, who has worked on changing the system since he entered office , said its time something is done about a system with inherent imbalances for residents of the Bristol Borough’s across the state.

David Baldinger special guest from the Pennsylvania Taxpayers Cyber Coalition (PTCC)  whose exclusive focus for the last 10 years has been the elimination of school property taxes and education finance reform presented a compelling argument for a new system to be implemented.

“If  we don’t,”  he said after the meeting “homeowners and the state will be bankrupted by the current system,”  pointing out 10,000 homes in the state have been part of sheriff sales because of the way school taxes are assessed.

Galloway, who realizes the bill isn’t “perfect,” said its that’s no longer an excuse for the problems faced by homeowners barely hanging on to their homes  in his district, implored the Harrisburg  to get the legislation done.

Harrisburg used to fund 50 percent of educational costs. Today, it barely rises  to 17 percent, he said.

There were several moments during  Baldinger’s presentation where a  collective “What?” could be heard.

“There are only three Bucks County representatives in favor of this measure, he said, John  State Rep’s  Tina Davis and Paul Clymer, was one such moment.

One of the key players and social media outposts in the Bristol area on Facebook is David De long and Ken Bixler’s Bristol Borough Tax Payers Association. 

From the posts on the groups social media page, a victory of sorts for them came to fruition  since they have made it mission to educate the public about the bill and 80 grass-roots groups throughout the Commonwealth calling for the eradication of the system that De Long told LevittownNow last week buries him and his family financially.

“This is a movement started by the people and we intend to finish it by having  HB 76 signed into law,” De Long said Tuesday morning.

The legislation, which is sitting in the house’s finance committee, has  its detractors and uncommitted in the area.

Late last week, State Rep. Frank Farry said, “In principle, I’m for changing the current system because I think its unconstitutional to pay for home and then be taxed years after its been paid off.” He does, however, have some issues with the bill saying, “It’s tied to our economy and what if that tanks once again?”

Baldinger’s response to Farry’s point is once we the school taxes are erased it will be like “our own self created stimulus because the money  freed up will turn into disposable dollars the residents which in turn is spent on “televisions, cars, and home construction” such as, and that will create a healthy economy for all.

Galloway closed out his remarks by inviting  constituents to continue the dialogue by contacting him with questions about the Property Tax Independence Act

Today from 12 p.m. – 2 p.m. LevittowNow.com will host an online forum with the Galloway from his office live on our Facebook page.

Participants can send questions three ways.

1) On the LevittownNow.com Facebook page

2) E-mail to news@Levittownnow.com

3) Via Twitter using the hashtag #PTIA

Questions can be submitted starting at 11:45 a.m.

On August 13 at  7 p.m. at the 5th Ward in Bristol Borough the Baldinger will give another presentation to the community about the HB 76

Contact the Bristol Borough Taxpayers Association on Facebook for more information.