DUBOIS – The DuBois Area School District Board of Directors approved a recommendation by the district’s tax study commission on Wednesday night.
School districts across the state were mandated by state government to form tax study commissions to examine ways to find tax relief for homeowners.
The tax study commission for the DuBois school district proposed a .6-percent earned income tax to be levied on residents within the school district. In exchange for the earned income tax, if voters did choose that, those with approved homestead or farmsteads would save $292 in property taxes.
The amount of taxes, if levied in this fashion, would need to be equal in both Clearfield and Jefferson Counties.
The recommendation will now be formed into a question to be placed on the ballot for the next election, giving voters the choice of either keeping a tax based on property or one based on earned income.
This decision will not be additional money to the school district, according to Superintendent Sharon Kirk. Instead, the voters’ decision will either keep taxes as they are currently or change them. It should be noted that only homeowners who applied for and were approved for the Homestead Act will be affected by the
Such a decision has the possibility of bringing in less money to the school district.
Before any decision on the question can be made by the school board, a public hearing must be held. According to Kirk, that hearing can tentatively be expected at the board’s last meeting in February.
