We're Number 1!

This past Saturday morning, I started my day by checking out the local news.  I perused the websites of the local newspapers and TV stations.  I looked for stories about New Cumberland to share with the community on my social media pages, New Cumberland News on Facebook and NC17070News on Twitter.  Well, I did find a news item about New Cumberland on www.Pennlive.com.  The headline read, 'New Cumberland budget holds line on taxes, fees.'  I scanned the article and found out that our taxes were being kept at 3.9 mills.  After that, I came across another story about Lemoyne having to raise their taxes.  I read through the article for more details, and found out that they were raising their tax rate from 2.1 mills to 2.3 mills.  That's when a bell went off for me.  Something didn't seem right.  I went back over to the article about New Cumberland and double checked the millage rate.  Yes, I had it correct, the article stated that New Cumberland is keeping the tax rate here at 3.9 mills.  Huh?  Lemoyne's current tax rate is 2.1 mills, soon to be 2.3, and ours is 3.9 mills?  Seems like a big difference between two neighboring towns. 

On a side note, I just to make sure I'm being clear, and want to again specify which tax I am talking about.  All property owners pay a county, municipal and school real estate tax.  The specific tax that I am talking about is the municipal tax, and that money goes to the borough in which one  owns property.  Also, a little information about what exactly a 'mill' is.  I found the following definition on the Cumberland County Website:  "A mill is a way to express tax rate.  One mill equals one thousandth of a dollar.  One mill is expressed as .001.  The tax is computed by multiplying the millage rate set by the taxing body times the assessed value of the property."  Here is the link to the page where I found this definition: http://www.ccpa.net/DocumentCenter/Home/View/6869 .

After discovering the difference in tax rates between our town and our neighboring town of Lemoyne, I decided to do a little more digging.  I wondered what residents in other West Shore and Cumberland County municipalities pay in taxes.

I did an internet search which took me to the Cumberland County Website.  There I found a page entitled "Property Assessment Forms and Resources."  Under the heading 'Real Estate Tax Forms' I found the file 'Current Real Estate Millage Rates.'  I clicked that title which opened the PDF file 2012 County and Municipal & 2012-2013 School Tax Rates.

This file offers a great deal of information about tax rates in Cumberland County.  Looking at ONLY the Real Estate Municipal column, I saw that New Cumberland has the highest Municipal Tax Rate in all of Cumberland County.

That's right, we're number 1 (drum roll, please) in municipal real estate taxes.

Listed below are the top 10 highest municipal tax rates in Cumberland County.
3.9 mills        New Cumberland
3.065 mills    Wormleysburg
3.058 mills    Carlisle Borough & 2nd, 3rd, 4th Annex
3.022 mills    Camp Hill
2.6 mills        Shippensburg Borough
2.58 mills      Mechanicsburg
2.434 mills    Newville
2.1 mills        Lemoyne (To be raised to 2.3 next year)
2.1 mills        Shiremanstown
2.05 mills      Lower Allen & L.A. Annex/Shire

Now, when you combine New Cumberland's municipal tax rate with the school tax and county tax, we fall lower on the overall list.  The West Shore School District, which serves New Cumberland and other municipalities, has one of the lowest school tax rates in Cumberland County at 9.3 mills. 

The view the entire 2012 County and Municipal & 2012-2013 School Tax Rates file, please click this link: http://www.ccpa.net/DocumentCenter/Home/View/8646

I encourage you to visit the Pennlive articles at these links:

New Cumberland Budget holds line on taxes

Lemoyne homeowners to see 9.5 percent increase in taxes next year

Help Hillside School Be A Winner!

Hillside Elementary School

School funding is all over the news these days.  Most of the news involves there not being enough funding to go around.  Here in the West Shore School District our taxes were raised for the 2012-2013 school year.  In Cumberland County, the school taxes went up 3.33%, while our York County neighbors had theirs raised 4.58%.  We hear about other districts cutting sports and kindergarten.  We are lucky that has not happened in our schools, yet.

As taxes go up, parents are being to asked to chip in for their children to be able to participate in sports and other activities.   West Shore School District has recently enacted an activity fees for middle and high school.  These fees range from $50 - $200, to cover sports, band, JROTC and more.  To find out more about the West Shore School District's activity fee, click here.

We seem to pay more and more, and get less and less for our tax dollars.  Schools are always looking for new ways to raise money.  There are the usual fundraisers, but sometimes we need something different.

So, it's summer, and school's out, why am I writing about school funding?  Our town's public elementary school, Hillside, is trying something new.  Avery Office Products has a promotion called "Avery Give Back to Schools."  Hillside is trying to win this promotion, but they need the entire community to get behind them and vote.  To win this promotion, they need community members to go to the Avery Give Back to Schools Website, login with your Facebook ID or register for a website ID.  After logging in, find Hillside by searching the name or zip code 17070.  You will click to vote, then verify your vote.  It's simple and it takes less than a minute.  Unfortunately, one vote on one day, won't be enough.  They need you to vote every day between now and September 14.  Please bookmark the Avery site, and when you check your email, or Facebook page, take a minute to vote for Hillside.  I will keep a link here on this page so you can easily connect with the promotion.

What will Hillside win?  If they are among the top 5 vote getters, they will receive $10,000 worth of Avery School Supplies, $1,000 worth of gift cards, and 25,000 Box Tops for Education coupons.   25 runner up schools win 10,000 Box Tops for Education coupons.  For just participating in the promotion, all schools have a chance of winning one of 10 prizes of 5,000 worth of Box Tops for Education coupons.

I know if we can get our community behind Hillside, they can be one of those top 5 winners.  Currently Hillside ranks in the 260's out of approximately 16,000 schools.  Thank you for helping Hillside be a winner!

Click here to vote for Hillside. 

PS:  Just learned you can vote more than once, if you vote for two different schools, so make sure you vote for New Cumberland Middle School, too!

Welcome to Haldemantown?

Recently, I stumbled upon the Susquehanna Club's website.  It had some interesting information on the origins of New Cumberland.  This made me dig out another source of New Cumberland information that my husband had, New Cumberland Frontier, by the late Gilbert W. Beckley, a longtime New Cumberland resident.

New Cumberland is not our town's original name.  The town as we know it today was originally named "Haldemantown," after the town's founder, Jacob Miller Haldeman.  However, when the town was registered at the Cumberland County Courthouse, it was legally recorded as "Cumberland," instead of "Haldemantown."  As the town grew, a post office was established in 1827 and since the town was legally named Cumberland, the post office used that in it's title.  As you know there's another town in Maryland, called Cumberland, so the government was afraid there would be confusion between the two towns and it changed the post office name here to "New Cumberland."  By 1831, the town's leaders accepted the "New Cumberland" designation and it was officially declared a borough.

According to Susquehanna Club's website, the groundwork for our town all started in 1811 when Mr. Haldeman purchased seventy-one acres from various families.  The original layout was established with Water, Market & Bridge being the north to south streets and First through Fifth being the east to west streets.  There were 221 original lots, most selling for $300.

Seems a shame that Jacob Haldeman doesn't get his due for pioneering this nice little town.  Sure, he has a street named for him, Haldeman Boulevard, but it doesn't seem enough to do him justice.  And to think, if whomever recorded the town name as "Cumberland" just would have recorded it as "Haldemantown", well, he would have his name on this town as a legacy.  According to the borough's website history page, written by Dr. Gerald S. Brinton,  other communities have existed on this plot of land such as Shawneetown, Chartier's Landing and Lowther Manor.  However,  the town as we know it today is due to Jacob Haldeman's efforts.  Haldeman was, literally, a community organizer.  He bought, parceled and sold the land.  He created a governing body which consisted of judges to handle the fair distribution of lots and hired a town promoter to publicize this new community to potential buyers.

I have to wonder what Mr. Haldeman would think of New Cumberland now.  I like to think he would be proud of the growth and the continued pride displayed here by the residents and business owners. So, when you drive into town and see those green "Welcome to New Cumberland" signs, take a minute to remember "Haldemantown" and the man who made it happen, Jacob Miller Haldeman.

Jacob Miller Haldeman, 1781-1857, Founder of New Cumberland

Sources:
http://www.susquehannaclub.com/susquehanna_club_history.html
New Cumberland Frontier Gilbert W. Beckley copyright 1973
http://www.newcumberlandborough.com/history.php