Much is made of the recent property tax increase that the Cambria County commissioners passed — a 6.75 mill increase. This means that for every $1,000 in property value, the owner must pay an additional $6.75 in property tax. This post will take a look specifically at the impact of property tax hikes for Cambria County.
Gerald Zahorchak, former superintendent of the Greater Johnstown School District and former PA Secretary of Education, directed me to the website financial data elements for school districts in Pennsylvania. The following table has variables for the 2025-2026 school year for the 12 school districts in the county. An explanation of the terms:
- Market Value (MV) is the total value of assessed properties in the school district.
- WADM is the weighted average daily membership of students in the school district.
- MV per WADM is the market value of the district divided by the WADM.
- The last column is the expected property tax increase in each district. It is the product of the MV per WADM and the 6.75 mill rate and divided by 1,000.
| Fiscal Year | School District | 2023 Market Value (MV) | 2023-24 WADM | MV per WADM | Average Property tax increase |
| 2025-2026 | Blacklick Valley SD | $152,118,144 | 721.599 | $210,807 | $1,422.95 |
| 2025-2026 | Cambria Heights SD | $421,123,459 | 1,527.854 | $275,630 | $1,860.50 |
| 2025-2026 | Central Cambria SD | $912,215,252 | 1,860.608 | $490,278 | $3,309.38 |
| 2025-2026 | Conemaugh Valley SD | $204,172,040 | 842.700 | $242,283 | $1,635.41 |
| 2025-2026 | Ferndale Area SD | $97,656,205 | 765.299 | $127,605 | $861.33 |
| 2025-2026 | Forest Hills SD | $571,015,787 | 2,036.144 | $280,439 | $1,892.96 |
| 2025-2026 | Greater Johnstown SD | $651,991,890 | 3,596.959 | $181,261 | $1,223.51 |
| 2025-2026 | Northern Cambria SD | $251,041,256 | 1,030.812 | $243,537 | $1,643.87 |
| 2025-2026 | Penn Cambria SD | $602,344,333 | 1,846.798 | $326,156 | $2,201.55 |
| 2025-2026 | Portage Area SD | $221,107,870 | 954.894 | $231,552 | $1,562.98 |
| 2025-2026 | Richland SD | $1,041,928,001 | 1,837.295 | $567,098 | $3,827.91 |
| 2025-2026 | Westmont Hilltop SD | $575,144,482 | 1,796.139 | $320,211 | $2,161.42 |
This calculation shows that the Richland and Central Cambria school districts should see the largest cash increases in in their property taxes while Ferndale and Greater Johnstown should see the smallest. The size of the school districts student bodies approximates the total number of taxable properties, but it is a reasonable approximation. This post does not take into account the property taxes levied by the municipalities and the school districts.
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