Secretary of Aging visits Mahanoy, touts property tax rebate expansion
KAYLEE LINDENMUTH / SHENANDOAH SENTINEL - Pennsylvania Secretary of Aging Jason Kavulich speaks to a crowd of seniors at the Mahanoy City Senior Center on August 25, 2023.
MAHANOY CITY – State and local officials, including Secretary of Aging Jason Kavulich, visited the Mahanoy City Senior Center Friday morning, touting the Property Tax/Rent Rebate program’s recent expansion.
The first such expansion since 2006, the state says nearly 175,000 more seniors will now qualify for the program and rebates will double for many of the 400,000 Pennsylvanians who already qualify.
Part of the expansion includes a raised maximum rebate from $650 to $1,000, and a raised income cap to $45,000 a year, tied to cost of living increases.
“This is something that will benefit everyone in this room,” Kavulich told a group of seniors at the center at Centre and Linden Streets. “You will see more funds than you did last year in your rebates.”
State Senator David G. Argall said that, across all of Schuylkill and Carbon counties as well as the Hazleton area, 10,000 new seniors will benefit from the program, in addition to those already benefiting. About 7,700 people already benefit in Schuylkill County, and that number could increase by another 3,200.
“What we’ve been able to do, I think is an extraordinary step forward in helping more seniors with this program,” Argall said. “On this issue, we were all able to work together.”
Argall said he constantly hears complaints about school property taxes from constituents seeking relief.
“I’ve told folks, it wasn’t fair when my grandfather was teaching in a one room schoolhouse being paid partially in vegetables, the property tax wasn’t especially fair in the 1920s, and its not fair 100 years later,” Argall said. “We have tried, and tried, and tried to eliminate it and replace it, but we don’t have the votes in the House and Senate we need.”
“Republicans and Democrats in Mahanoy City don’t always get along, and they don’t always get along in Harrisburg either,” Argall added. “But there’s one thing we agree on, and its helping seniors stay in their homes as long as humanly possible.”
Deanna Orlowsky, Director, Schuylkill County Area Agency on Aging, said she’s heard first-hand from county seniors about how necessary the rebate increase is.
“I can hear from all of the older adults, their needs, whether its to pay for their taxes, or the increased costs of food, utilities, medications, or any of the above,” Orlowsky said. “I’ve heard from them personally, the need for this expansion.”
“I feel this is a true win for the older adults in Pennsylvania,” Orlowsky said.
Since its inception in 1971, the PTRR program has delivered more than $8 billion in property tax and rent relief to some of Pennsylvania’s most vulnerable residents. The PTRR program is supported by the Pennsylvania Lottery.
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