Land Lines April 2016
Drastic Measure
Legislation that would eliminate the school property tax in Pennsylvania failed to pass by just one vote in the state Senate last fall. And proponents are not giving up, despite opposition from Governor Tom Wolf and advocacy groups for children and the poor, who maintain that schools will suffer if forced to rely on sales and income tax, as proposed. Experts from the Lincoln Institute recommend targeted relief to residents with the highest property tax burden, to preserve the property tax as the most stable and reliable source of education funding.
Embracing Uncertainty
Planning for the future has become much more uncertain in southwest Colorado, where x factors such as drought, wildfires, and swings in the price of natural gas threaten the region’s economy and way of life. So in 2015, the Southwest Colorado Council underwent training in exploratory scenario planning (XSP)—an emerging policy tool that helps communities envision possible futures in the face of irreducible uncertainties.
In this issue, we feature articles on alternatives to a bill that would kill the school property tax in Pennsylvania, exploratory scenario planning, post-disaster recovery planning, CoUrbanize’s online community planning forum, and more.