As I am sure many of you are aware, the Steelton municipal property tax rate is one of the top three highest in Dauphin County. There have been many factors that put us in this situation, such as the lack of additional land to develop, aging infrastructure, abandoned properties, and declining tax base.

It is imperative that we do what we can with what revenue we currently have without relying on tax increases to the current tax base that is already heavily burdened. We need to look into additional revenue sources such as grants and encourage residents to become involved by developing non-profit organizations to provide community services the borough currently is unable to provide funding for.

We need to have complete overview of our ailing infrastructure and actively pursue and assistance from both the state and federal government to address concerns, before they become problems where tax revenue will be needed rectify the situations.

Moving forward with a strong economic development plan that generates increases in tax revenue from businesses and local employment will decrease the overall burden on the current tax base by limiting further increase.

Local school property tax relief is the hot topic in this year’s state budget proposals. While there is no guarantee at this point of any relief, any relief to our district would be a huge boost in property values and lower the cost of owning property in the Borough of Steelton.