Reported on WJAC-TV, by Melanie Gillespie & Marc Stempka

July 29, 2014

Rising pension costs and property taxes across Pennsylvania are having an impact on people who own large amounts of land, like farmers. In an effort to encourage pension reform measures in the state legislature, the governor met with farmers in Blair and Huntingdon counties Monday to hear their concerns over rising property taxes.

Bill Hoover, of Tyrone, has worked on his grain farm for decades. He welcomed Gov. Tom Corbett and other farmers to his home for a sit-down meeting at his kitchen table to talk about taxes and pensions.

Hoover said he, just like other farmers, have to own a lot of land to make a profit and as taxes increase, the profit shrinks.

"Our income is based on how many acres we have, and it's not a high income per acre," Hoover said. "The last five years, it's averaged 12 percent of our profit is taken by real estate taxes."

Corbett encouraged all farmers, and tax payers, to talk to their local leaders about supporting comprehensive pension reform to avoid drastic property taxes increases.

"Go and talk to your legislatures, whether they're your legislator or somebody else, and again, this is not a partisan issue," Corbett said.

Corbett said it's no secret the state will continue to dump more and more into the already chronically underfunded pension system.

Hoover said if property tax increases are seen as the main option out of the pension crisis, farmers will be in trouble.

"They need to have these future increases worked on so it doesn't bankrupt the farmer, the landowner," Hoover said. "Because, as you all know, farmers have to have a lot of land or you're not in agriculture."

Ultimately it's the taxpayers, the homeowners and the farmers, which are in need of some relief, Hoover said.

"It's not that we think the people that are receiving these pensions did anything wrong," Hoover said. "They abided by the rules, they did their job, they paid their share, and they deserve their pensions, but in the future, it's getting to an unsustainable level."

Corbett cited Huntingdon County in particular, that has seen skyrocketing pension costs. In that county alone pension costs in public schools have increased more than 230 percent in the last decade, causing taxes to go up.

"If nothing changes, we've only seen the beginning," Hoover said. "In the next five years, we'll be pretty bad for our pension cost and the average homeowner."

Corbett said the time to act is well past due.

"This doesn't get fixed overnight," Corbett said. "There's no silver bullet, but the longer you delay, the worse it gets."

(Melanie Gillespie & Marc Stempka, "Farmers, governor talk pension reform and property taxes," WJAC-TV, 7/29/14)