December 29th, 2010 – by Glen Farmer
When the Pennsylvania casino industry was established, homeowners had been told to expect revenue from the casinos to help by providing tax breaks. The property tax breaks can now be expected in the year of 2011.
Halfway through the fiscal year, homeowners are now expecting to receive breaks on their property taxes. It is expected that homeowners will receive, on average, approximately $157 dollars in tax breaks.
Relief to homeowners will vary from one school district to the next. The districts with weaker tax bases and lower personal incomes are expected to see more relief for their property taxes.
Unfortunately, the state’s budget deficit is expected to lead to employee layoffs, despite the fact that the Governor of the Commonwealth said that the inclusion of table games into the state’s casinos would prevent job cuts of state employees.
In a budget briefing on Thursday, Governor Rendell said that the state could end the fiscal year with a budget deficit of $63 million dollars. The fiscal year ends of June 30th.
Over the last two years, a total of nearly 5,000 state government jobs had been cut.
Pennsylvania’s budget deficit had dropped significantly, however. The projected deficit dropped from $3.2 billion to $1.2 billion.