Court Orders Lower Merion School District to Revoke Tax Increase

A Montgomery County Court has ordered the Lower Merion School District to revoke a tax increase of 4.4 percent for the 2016-2017 school year, attorneys said on Thursday.

Montgomery County Court of Commons Pleas Judge Joseph A. Smyth said that the Lower Merion School Board must officially rebuke the tax hike at their next scheduled meeting, and that whatever tax hike they propose cannot be more than 2.4 percent higher than the tax rate for 2015-2016.

Attorneys argued on behalf of Lower Merion residents that the tax hike was unlawful and over the maximum allowed by the state of Pennsylvania. Plaintiffs were defended by attorney Arthur Wolk, a Lower Merion resident himself.

"Lower Merion residents went to Court in defense of their homes. They attended School Board meetings to speak against the tax increases only to be scorned. They would write emails to the Board only to find them disregarded. Our senior residents were fearful that they could no longer afford to stay in their homes because of the annual tax increases. It was clear from the facts that the School Board failed its fiduciary responsibility to oversee the School District budget. We were left with no choice but to go to Court," Wolk said.

Wolk said that the tax increase would have violated Public School Code and the Taxpayer Relief Act (Act 1) of 2006, and the court agreed.

Wolk's firm filed the lawsuit in February. The lawsuit states that it was filed in Wolk's name because Lower Merion citizens were "fearful" that if they were named as plaintiffs in the suit, there would be "retaliation against their children who are still students in the district."

In their decision, the Court said that since 2008, the school district's budget projected budget deficits, but analysis showed multi-million dollar surpluses each year. Under the proposed tax scheme for 2016-2017, the Lower Merion School District would have a multi-million dollar surplus at the end of the next school year. Since 2006, Wolk said that the district had raised their taxes by 52,3 percent.

Patch file photo.