Understanding School Tax Changes Under Act 50 of 1998. Extension circular. 1998. Introduction to the school tax reform aspects of Act 50 of 1998, including how to implement these changes in your school district, how the changes will affect school districts, and what Act 50 does not address.

Understanding the Homestead and Farmstead Exclusions. Extension circular. 1998. Introduction to the homestead and farmstead exclusions, which were authorized for counties, municipalities, and school districts by Act 50 of 1998.

Local Taxes and Our Community

This is a hands-on, discussion-oriented workbook series about local taxes in Pennsylvania, designed to help communities understand the local tax choices available to them, and the impact of those taxes on the community's taxpayers. It extensively uses information from participants' own community. A teacher's manual and supporting CD-ROM is also available to program facilitators.

Tax Fairness: What's Fair for Our Community? Extension circular. Introduction to tax fairness and local tax reform. Intended to accompany the video (see below).

What's Going On in Our Community? Extension circular. Workbook for developing a community tax profile of who lives in your community, who creates demands for services, and who has ability to pay.

How Do We Currently Use Taxes? Extension circular. Workbook for analyzing your community's current use of local taxes, including reliance, the role of the tax base, and expenditures.

How Do the Taxes We Use Affect Taxpayers? Extension circular. Workbook and computer spreadsheet to estimate the current impact of local taxes on typical taxpayers in your community. Compare current impacts with potential impacts under different local tax alternatives.

What Should Be Our Local Tax Distribution? Extension circular. Workbook to help communities learn about the tax alternatives available to them, and to reach a consensus on which taxes should be used.

Local Taxes in Pennsylvania: What's Fair? 1999. This video is intended to help communities decide for themselves which taxes are fairest for it. Designed to be used with the "Local Taxes & Our Community" workbook series. Time 10:43. Video.

How Is the Real Property Tax Distributed Among Land Uses? Extension circular. 1998. Details breakdown of real property tax across different land uses, and thus different taxpayers.

Who Pays the Local Taxes in Pennsylvania? Extension Circular 419. 1995. How the real property and earned income taxes are distributed across Pennsylvania taxpayers, by age and income.

What Are the Local Taxes in Pennsylvania? Extension Circular 418. 1994. Introduction to the major local taxes in Pennsylvania.

Which Taxes Do Local Governments in Pennsylvania Use?: Boroughs. Extension Circular 409. 1993. Information on how much boroughs rely upon different local taxes, showing and discussing regional differences.

Which Taxes Do Local Governments in Pennsylvania Use?: Townships of the Second Class. Extension Circular 408. 1993. Information on how much townships of the second class rely upon different local taxes, showing and discussing regional differences.

Reassessment: What Homeowners Need to Know. Extension Circular. 1996. Basic introduction to reassessment. Discusses how reassessment can affect your taxes.

An Introduction to County Government. Extension circular. Overview of County Government functions and roles of county officials. 1998.

Local Government Expenditures and Revenues in Your Municipality. While citizens recognize that local governments provide a number of important services, they are often unsure about their cost and the means by which they are paid for. This publication addresses the question of from where your municipality collects and spends its money and compares your local government's revenues and expenditures with those of other local governments in your county and the Commonwealth. 1998.

24 Hours in County Government. Demonstrates the breadth of activities county governments are involved with. For youth and adult audiences. Time 18:25. 1995. Video.

Pennsylvania Spirit Alive in Boroughs. What borough governments do, how they function, and how they have overcome several challenges facing boroughs in Pennsylvania. 39:05 minutes. 1997. Video.

How to Do a Cost of Community Service Study. Extension circular. Workbook for conducting a Cost of Community Service study of the land uses in your own municipality. 1998.

Fiscal Impacts of Different Land Uses. Extension circular 410. 1997. The types of land uses in your community make a difference for the revenues and services your local government and school district provide. This bulletin presents the results from studies in 11 Pennsylvania townships, showing how land uses matter.

Farmland Preservation in Pennsylvania: The Impact of "Clean and Green" on Local Governments and Taxpayers. Extension circular 411. 1994. The local tax impact of Pennsylvania's farmland protection program, Act 319, on local governments, school districts, and taxpayers in Pennsylvania. Includes information for each county.

Act 319 of 1974, Use Value Assessment Under Pennsylvania's Clean and Green Act. 1996.

Our Changing Landscape: Balancing Rural and Urban Needs

Zoning for Farming (published by the Center for Rural Pennsylvania)

Agricultural Zoning

Agricultural Security Area Program

Purchase of Agricultural Conservation Easements

Land Use Regulations Applied to Agriculture

Land Owner and Premises Liability

Exercising Property Rights: For Individual or Community Benefit?

Pennsylvania County Economic Profiles. A computer-based program providing detailed information on key economic indicators (e.g., employment, income, population) over time. The program helps facilitate an understanding of recent economic trends at the local level. The analysis can be tailored to a particular county's economy, or the user's interests in specific industries.

Input-output analysis. Computer model that conducts county-level analysis of predicted changes in local employment and income due to a "shock" to the local economy.

Community Impact Model-Penn State University (CIM-PSU). Developed with support from the Center for Rural Pennsylvania, CIM-PSU is a fiscal impact model that predicts the effects of economic change on local government revenues and expenditures (including schools), as well as local employment, income and population. Fee.

Trade Area Analysis. This program provides detailed information about a community's retail market and allows users to assess the performance of particular retail sectors.

Road to 2000: Update on Pennsylvania. This publication presents a picture of employment changes for the state and counties, using maps, graphs and tables. Data are presented by both broad and detailed industry sectors for the most recent two-year period and averages for a longer period. Particular attention is given to top growing and declining industries. Begun in 1986, it is published annually in cooperation with Bell Atlantic.

Rural Development Views. Newsletter of the Center for Economic and Community Development, in the Department of Agricultural Economics and Rural Sociology. The contents are summaries of research or extension projects focusing on issues of concern in rural areas. Begun in 1993, it is published three times a year.

Local Government's Capacity to Manage Water Resources. 1994. Describes local officials perceptions of groundwater concerns and what they are doing about them. (Published jointly with the League of Women Voters of PA).

Groundwater: A Primer for Pennsylvanians. 1996. Explains groundwater, land uses that threaten it, and actions citizens can take to help manage this resource. (Published jointly with the League of Women Voters of PA).

Building Bridges: The Water Policy Debate in Changing Communities. 1995. Provides an overview of water quantity and quality issues and policy choices inherent in its management.

Groundwater Protection and Management in Pennsylvania: An Introductory Guide for Citizens and Local Officials. 1997. Explains a five-step process for planning for groundwater protection and identifies tools and resources available in Pennsylvania for implementing protection measures.

A Primer on Water Access and Allocation in Pennsylvania. 1997. Extension Bulletin. Provides history of water rights developments and trends, defines legal terms, and identifies key players in water management in Pennsylvania and their authorities.

Community Groundwater Education in Pennsylvania: Lessons from Successful Project Leaders. 1998. Shares insights about proven educational and action strategies from local groundwater policy education project conducted throughout Pennsylvania from 1992-97. Includes suggestions for how to improve communication and cooperation between citizens and local officials.

Pennsylvania Water: Who Controls It? Slide-tape show (9 minutes). 1998. Uses a recent water rights dispute to introduce citizens to water access and allocation issues and why they will be increasingly important in the future. It emphasizes the fact that everyone's decisions influence use of our water and encourages citizen involvement in local and state decision-making that affects water resources.

Agricultural Uses Affecting Others: Legal Issues Regarding Nuisances and Right to Farm Laws. 1995. Provides information about Pennsylvania's Right to Farm law, and how it may apply in different situations.

Community Conflicts over Agriculture, Land Uses and Natural Resources: Finding the Common Ground. Extension circular. 1996. Describes a collaborative, community-oriented approach to resolving conflicts, the steps needed to implement this approach, and alternative roles for local leaders and citizens to play in resolving rural-urban conflict.

Conflict Management Resources in Pennsylvania. Identifies and gives contact information for organizations providing assistance and training on conflict management.

Good Neighbor Relations: Advice and Tips from Other Farmers. Extension circular. 1996. Farmers give advice to other farmers on how to coexist with non-farming neighbors.

Understanding Your Community's Agriculture. Extension circular. 1997. Overview of what rural residents should know and expect from their neighboring farms. Some local governments hand this out to new residents.

Country Living: A Homeowner's Guide. Extension circular. 1997. Guide about septic and water systems management, and country living.

Non-farm Attitudes Towards Farming: A Case Study in Chester County, Pennsylvania. Sustainable Community Development Series, No. 2. 1996.

Interaction Between Pennsylvania's Agricultural Security Area Act and Its Right to Farm Law. July 1997

Local Officials Look at Pennsylvania Local Government:

A series of publications based on a 1994 survey of Pennsylvania local government officials, focusing on their municipal operations and their perceptions of change.

______: Volunteers, Information, and Training. Extension Circular One. 1995. Ease of finding volunteers, where officials get information.

______: Using Computers for Municipal Functions. Extension Circular Two. 1995. Computer use in municipalities.

______: Services Needed and Provided by Townships of the First Class. Extension Circular Three. 1996.

______: Services Needed and Provided by Townships of the Second Class. Extension Circular Four. 1996.

______: Services Needed and Provided by Boroughs. Extension Circular Five. 1996.

______: Changing Municipal Relationships. Extension Circular Six. 1996. Attitudes towards collaboration and changing local roles, and amount of collaboration occurring with other governments.

______: Municipal Responses to Community Change. Extension Circular Seven. 1996. Attitudes towards growth and decline. Impact of newcomers on taxes and services.