Photo by James Short.
Incentive would benefit municipal volunteers of fire companies and nonprofit emergency medical services agencies that serve the North Penn School District
Bringing an over two-year long conversation to the table, the North Penn School Board held a hearing to present the intent of adopting a resolution to establish a tax rebate for volunteer fire and medical services, what it describes in the meeting agenda as a “real property tax credit incentive for municipal volunteers of fire companies and nonprofit emergency medical services agencies that serve the North Penn School District.”
Board Solicitor Kyle Somers facilitated the hearing and explained that “the reason we are having a hearing is that the code says, the law states, the board, in order to have such a tax credit for first responders, needs to adopt a resolution. There’s a draft resolution that is attached to the agenda tonight for your review and for the community’s review and consideration.”
“The purpose of the hearing is to essentially create a record of what is the information about this potential tax credit program,” Somers continued.
Timeline and Coverage
The topic of a tax rebate appeared previously in North Penn Now in November 2025 with a letter from Christian Fusco, a former North Penn School Board director who ended his term in November.
“The school board approved the NPSD administration moving forward with a tax credit program for volunteer emergency responders. The plan, modeled after a countywide rebate program, will permit volunteer firefighters and members of fire companies residing and serving in the North Penn School District with up to $750 back in their property taxes for their volunteer service,” Fusco said in the letter.
“It is our commitment to support those who support the families and taxpayers of North Penn. We are proud to do so by making things a little easier on those who sacrifice so much to keep us all safe,” Fusco wrote further.
The countywide program the district plans to emulate refers to the “Active Volunteer Real Estate Tax Rebate Ordinance,” which was passed in February 2024. Further details can be found on the official Montgomery County website, which provides a brief overview and link to submit any further questions.
“Volunteers represent a large portion of the County’s emergency service organizations and the Board of Commissioners recognizes the need to encourage and support the invaluable time and commitment provided by these individuals. This program is designed to provide property tax relief to those individuals who maintain active volunteer service and those who are unable to do so due to injury incurred in the line of duty,” the website states.
The ordinance is pursuant to the state’s Act 172 of 2016, amended by Act 91 of 2020, meant to incentivize and appreciate volunteer emergency response personnel. Act 172 allowed for local municipalities to provide real property or income tax credits to volunteer emergency response personnel. Four years later in 2020, Act 91 updated and expanded the program.
During the April 8, 2024 Finance Committee Meeting, Chief Financial Officer at the time Steve Skrocki presented information on Act 172, Act 91, and a Volunteer Emergency Service Providers Tax Credit Program.
Almost a year later, Chief Bill Wiegman, then of Montgomery Township Fire Department and now the new Plumstead Fire chief, joined the March 24, 2025 Safe Schools Committee meeting to present a volunteer firefighter rebate program to North Penn School District.
“In 1970, there was about 187,000 volunteer firefighters in Pennsylvania, and now we’re somewhere around maybe 30,000 left,” Wiegman said, attributing the loss to a multitude of reasons including training, affordability of homes, and work-life balance.
“In 2016, the PA legislation passed Act 172, which was adopted to help townships and municipalities create financial incentive programs for volunteer firefighters. In 2020, Act 91 expanded those incentive programs, to county taxes and school district taxes,” Wiegman explained.
Wiegman spoke to represent “all fire chiefs that represent North Penn” to present to the district, sharing that the conversation was started in August 2023 and asked for the committee’s support on the potential of an incentive program.
“The reason why I’m asking North Penn to take the lead on this is because they have the opportunity to be one of the first school districts in the Commonwealth to embrace this idea. I think this will have a positive impact on the firefighters in the North Penn School District. The chiefs are fully behind it, their memberships are fully behind it,” Wiegman said.
During the hearing, Somers presented for the record that the hearing was made public in local newspapers, which include The Times Herald and The Reporter on March 11.
Hearing Conclusion
Any action on a resolution made by the board was not required at the work session meeting. The hearing acted as a public informational session, with time allotted after for public comment.
“There is no action required by the board tonight. The requirement of having a hearing is really affording the opportunity to the public to be made aware of this program, for us to have a record of this board being informed on this program,” Somers explained before handing the hearing over to Chief Financial Officer Tara B.G. Houser to present information.
Houser explained the idea of a variable rate rebate, which would mean that the rebate return is based on points for assigned activities over the year for volunteer emergency service personnel. It is required for a volunteer to be a property owner in the school district to be eligible, with a $700 maximum benefit.
“At our last board meeting where we discussed this, it was the desire of the board at that time to keep this rebate at around $100,000 total for the district. We estimate that at this maximum $700 range that we’d come in at about that spot,” Houser explained.
Superintendent Dr. Todd Bauer also added that, if passed, this program will be revisited each year.
With no questions or comments from the audience of citizens, the hearing was concluded by Somers.
This article was written by a student journalist at "The Knight Crier" newspaper at North Penn High School and shared here. To read more stories like this, visit https://knightcrier.org
