Hanna Tells Town Hall Audience He Will Fight Any State Tax Plan Harming Bucktail High

FLEMINGTON – State Rep. Mike Hanna (D-Lock Haven) told a town hall audience Wednesday night he will oppose state-imposed property tax alterations which could result in the closing of Bucktail High School.

Some 100 people gathered at the Red Eye Sports Center for a 90-minute question and answer at the Hanna-called event. High on the list of topics was a feared closing of Bucktail High School as the potential result of the proposed Property Tax Independence Act. The measure would eliminate local school district property taxes, replaced by an increase in the state sales tax from 6 to 7 percent and a hike in the personal income tax from 3.07 percent to 4.95 percent. Local school funding would then flow primarily from Harrisburg, a loss of local control.

Hanna said he did not believe the measure would be approved as proposed, but some lesser measure could be enacted into law. He said he would listen if school boards in his 76th district were opposed, particularly if such a measure would force local cutbacks which could end in the closing of Bucktail High School; if the Bucktail closing could be the result, Hanna said, he “would do everything to stop” the measure from becoming law.

He noted that the Renovo area is due to rebound over the next three to five years, given the pending $900 million Renovo Energy Center project, construction scheduled to begin later this year. He said most important infrastructure to western Clinton County is its Bucktail Medical Center and the high school/elementary school complex at Farwell.

Several Renovo area people attended the Hanna town hall to voice their concern, close to 10 questions submitted about the school tax issue. A large turnout of Bucktail High supporters from western Clinton County is expected at the Thursday Keystone Central School Board meeting at Central Mountain High School.