Current School Tax Millage Rates and Concerns
In Clarion County, Pennsylvania, the school district with the highest property tax rate is currently the Clarion Area School District, with a real estate tax rate of 65.73 mills. A mill represents $1 in taxes for every $1,000 of assessed property value. This means that for each $1,000 of assessed property value, homeowners in the Clarion Area School District pay $65.73 in school property taxes.
By comparison, the Redbank Valley School District's property tax rate is lower, at 46.84 mills. It's important to remember that property tax rates can differ within the county depending on the specific school district and municipality. Therefore, the total property tax rate for a property depends on its location within the county.
For the 2024-2025 school year, the millage rates for school districts in Clarion County, Pennsylvania, are as follows:
- Clarion Area School District: 65.73 mills
- Union School District: 60.8821 mills
- Clarion-Limestone Area School District: 60.28 mills
- Keystone School District: 58.587 mills
- North Clarion County School District: 56.532 mills
- Allegheny Clarion Valley: 51.67 mills
- Redbank Valley School District: 46.84 mills
- Karns City School District: 39.09 mills
A millage rate represents the amount of tax levied for each $1,000 of assessed property value. For example, a rate of 65.73 mills means that for every $1,000 in assessed property value, $65.73 is collected in school taxes.
Here's where the issue arises: If a home in the Clarion Area School District was assessed at $43,683 in 1975 but is now valued at $470,400, the school taxes would rise dramatically from $2,871.28 to $30,919.39 per year if you continue to use the current millage rate of 65.73. Clearly, such an increase is unsustainable, and the district would need to adjust the millage rate to reflect the new assessments. In this example, assuming no change in the county tax burden (meaning the county taxes remain the same despite the reassessment), the new school millage rate would be about 6.10 mills.
The formula for calculating millage rate is:
Millage Rate = (Taxes / Assessed Value) × 1,000
Applied formula:
6.1039 = ($2,871.28 / $470,400) × 1,000
With the majority of properties (78%, according to the provided calculations) facing an increase in county tax burden due to the new assessments, school taxes will also rise proportionally. In short, if you notice an increase in your tax burden, it's not just your county taxes going up—it may also affect your school and municipal taxes.
For more detailed information on the current millage rates, you can refer to the Clarion County Assessment Office's official documents.
 2024 Millage Rates.pdf | 156 kB | 440 Downloads | 2025-01-20 14:37 |