Kaitlyn Hughes | features editor

Allegheny County Council voted in December to raise the county’s property tax by 36%. Over time, experts say this will have an effect on students renting in Pittsburgh.

In the City of Pittsburgh, the property tax bill is the sum of four things — Pittsburgh Public Schools (10.25 mills), City of Pittsburgh (8.06 mills), Library Tax (.25 mills) and Allegheny County (6.43 mills).

Although the county millage rate did increase 36%, the total tax bill for a property owner in the City of Pittsburgh increased 7.3%.

One mill is the equivalent to one dollar for every $1,000 of assessed property value. A house priced at $100,000 would have been paying $2,329 per year in property taxes prior to the increase. Now, a house at that price would be paying $2,499 per year.

Pavel Yakovlev, Duquesne associate professor of economics, said that landlords have to factor in the cost of their business when they price their rentals — therefore, having an effect on pricing.

“Maybe not immediately, but I’m guessing within some time, this higher cost of business will lead to higher rents,” Yakovlev said.

Lily Steiner, vice president and leasing manager at Steiner Realty, a property management company, said that even when taxes rise their main goal is to keep the current tenants.

Instead of increasing previous tenants’ rents right away, the company will raise the prices of new rentals. When having to raise prices, they will increase rents based on the previous year’s rate.

“Hopefully, the tax increase is for a good reason and is going toward making the county a better place to live, but it is a jump so it is definitely something to budget accordingly for,” Steiner said.

But not everyone in the county is worried about the newest property tax increase.

Gregg Perelman is a founding partner and CEO of Walnut Capital, a rental company withinPittsburgh. He said that renters have bigger issues to worry about rather than a property tax increase.

“[Property tax] has a small effect that’s not that significant,” Perelman said. “There are other things influencing the cost of living.”

Cost of utilities and water bills are what renters should be focused on, according to Perelman.

He said that the Residential Housing Rental Permit Program, an initiative to ensure properties meet basic health and safety standards through inspections, will become a bigger issue in terms of rent pricing. The program charges $16 per rental unit for registration, $5.50 per rental unit inspection and $14 per dwelling or sleeping unit inspection. The program is currently being carried out on a voluntary basis until June 1. Then enforcement actions will be taken against apartment owners who have not registered.

Perelman said there is never a good time to raise taxes, but it is necessary to fund the various programs within the county. He attributed the tax increase to the lack of returning workers in office buildings post-pandemic.

“The city needs revenue because the offices aren’t generating revenue to support the city’s growth,” he said.

Yakovlev said it makes sense for the county to raise taxes because of inflation, specifically because this is the first property tax increase in Allegheny county in more than a decade.

Allegheny County is not alone in their tax hike with Westmoreland County raising their tax by 32.5% in 2023 and Armstrong County which proposed a 33% property tax increase in 2025.

Yakovlelv said that students and other renters may start to look for alternative places to live such as Washington County, which is south of the city and has not had a recent hike in property tax.

Charles Favreau, Duquesne associate professor of finance, does not think the property tax increase will deter the amount of students who choose to rent off-campus housing because of supply and demand. Students need housing, causing them to pay for what landlords are charging.

“Landlords are always going to charge as much as they possibly can, which is okay, that’s economics,” Favreau said. “Most likely the landlord will absorb the costs of those taxes in the short run, but over the long run taxes passed on [to the tenant].”

The homestead exemption, a reduced property tax assessment on qualifying owner-occupied properties for Allegheny County tax purposes, remained at $18,000. This value is excluded from county real property taxation.

Since most students are renting homes and apartments, the homestead exemption is not relevant to them.

Although homeowners will see the tax increase immediately because of this, renters will see the increase throughout time.

Yakovlev said the tax increase is arguably unfair to younger people looking to purchase property or rent.

“They increase rents which will eventually fall on newcomers, people who don’t commit to buying property and also low-income individuals,” he said.

There is a property tax calculator on the county website, so you can look up any address to see what the county’s new tax bill will be in 2025. Visit: https://www.alleghenycounty.us/Government/Departments-and-Offices/Department-Directory/Budget-and-Finance/Property-Assessment-Tax-Calculator.