A Bold Request

My former O-R colleague Barbara Miller reports in Friday's paper that Dr. Joyce Knestrick, president of the McGuffey Area School District Board of Education, attended the Washington County Commissioners meeting on Thursday and called upon the commissioners to conduct a countywide property reassessment. Dr. Knestrick lives in South Franklin Township, part of the 46th District. (The other municipalities of the 46th in the McGuffey Area School District are Buffalo Township and Green Hills Borough.)

It's a bold request that would have ramifications on property tax revenues for each and every municipality and school district in Washington County -- likely some positive and some negative. From the article:

"Property development, deterioration, changed uses and changed market conditions over the last 25 years should now be acknowledged so that Washington County's assessment system can be brought up to date," Dr. Joyce Knestrick told the commissioners in a prepared statement."

"Inequities will be corrected where groups of taxpayers will no longer be subsidizing the taxes of other property owners."

I haven't had time to develop an informed, well-rounded opinion on this yet. But, kudos to Dr. Knestrick and the McGuffey board for out-of-the-box thinking and the initiative to bring it before the county commissioners.