JEFFERSON TWP — The South Butler School District is deciding whether to appeal tax reassessments that would cost the district $53,000 in local tax revenue.

In the past couple of months, the county had hearings before the three-person Tax Assessment Appeals Board, according to district solicitor Tom May. Those reassessments affected 11 properties on more than 120 acres in Clinton and Jefferson townships and Saxonburg, according to information provided by Paul Slomer, the district’s director of business affairs.

The largest loss to the district was a reassessment of the Bayer facility at the Victory Road Business Park, owned by Medrad. The previous assessed value for almost 20 acres was $1.34 million. That was reduced to $1.16 million, costing the district more than $17,000 in tax revenue, Slomer said.

The Gulf Coast Partners own almost 32 acres on John Roebling Way in Clinton Township. A reassessment dropped the value from $526,500 to $425,100, for a tax decrease of more than $9,500, according to Slomer.

Another appeal was from the ESM Group, a steel manufacturer on 39 acres at 955 Saxonburg Road. The previous assessed value was $304,000, reduced to $218,000. Slomer said this drops the school’s tax revenue about $8,150.

The reassessments combined will decrease the district’s tax revenue by $53,000 in the 2017-18 school year, according to information provided by Slomer.

The new assessment values will become effective for taxing purposes July 1, 2017, with the exception of an $850 loss for the reassessment of a property on Hannahstown Road. That property’s newly assessed value is effective as of July 1.

Slomer said this amount reflects only a portion of the district’s $15 million in local tax revenue, but the board has expressed some concern.

“I think we’re always concerned when we’re going to lose that potential revenue,” he said.

May said the school board is looking at whether it should appeal the decision.

“Of course they’re concerned about it, but we haven’t decided yet if we’re going to appeal,” May said. “That takes a lot of different factors to consider. (The board has) an appraisal, and it depends on the cost of what our appraisers say.”

The decision to appeal must be made by the end of November, May said.