State College is proposing a 35% tax increase. Who are the top real estate taxpayers?
The top 10 real estate taxpayers in 2025 were mostly high-rises and various student housing complexes in downtown State College, based on information publicly discussed during a council work session earlier this month.
The State College borough council is looking at a proposed eight mill — or 35% — tax increase in 2026 to achieve a structurally balanced budget. The proposed total budget includes about $73.4 million in expenditures — $4.4 million less than the 2025 budget — and roughly $64.2 million in recurring revenues. About $9.2 million is allocated from fund balances.
As council members review the proposed 2026 budget this month and into December, they heard updates on the real estate tax collected so far in 2025. With that, earlier this month the council got a glimpse of the borough’s top real estate taxpayers for the year.
As of Oct. 31, the borough had net collected $12.6 million in real estate taxes. The borough collected about $2.8 million in real estate taxes from the top 10 taxpayers.
Top Real Estate Taxpayers in 2025:
- Standard at State College LLC / The Standard: $422,666.47
- UP PSU Residential Owner LLC / The Maxxen: $378,127.12
- RAR2-52 East College Avenue / The Rise: $352,438.60
- CORE State College Hetzel LLC / oLiv Hetzel: $323,027.50
- Metropolitan at State College LLC / The Metropolitan: $306,660.18
- CORE State College Pugh LLC / oLiv Highland: $295,693.46
- Foxdale Village: $251,024.95
- CORE State College Beaver LLC / Various buildings: $195,519.55
- Highland Holding Group Inc / Various buildings: $142,488.98
- Copper Beech Townhome Community / Various buildings: $137,999.23
Achieving a structurally balanced budget in the borough has been a constant challenge, borough manager Tom Fountaine said during a previous meeting. About 45% of the properties in the borough are tax-exempt, and therefore the borough receives zero taxes for it.
Where does the budget stand?
The budget has previously been described as “status quo” because it does not include funding for any new positions. Employee wage increases and a 9.1% increase in group health insurance have been cost drivers in the budget.
During a review Tuesday of the general administration budget, Fountaine said budget management has been a priority in recent years. The borough has had a structurally unbalanced budget for years. But thanks to an influx of revenue from real estate transfer tax and American Plan Rescue Act (ARPA) grants, the borough was able to avoid large tax increases coming out of the COVID pandemic, Fountaine said.
The borough has been working on a model to get to a structurally balanced budget because now the reserves are “fairly well depleted,” he said.
“We’re going to be looking next year at some in depth questions about how we can increase those revenue sources moving forward in future budgets to relieve some of the burden on property tax,” Fountaine said. “Right now, property tax and earned income tax are the two primary funding sources for our budgets for the general fund, and we are hoping to be able to move in some different directions in the next few years. It will be extremely unlikely that that will occur before this budget is adopted, but we will continue to work on that.”
Council president Evan Myers said he and other council members have given different suggestions and asked questions about the budget and proposed tax increase since they’ve started reviewing it. He anticipates that next week the council will begin to receive ideas, suggestions, answers and questions from staff for them to consider.
“I’m not sure there’s any one person on this council that supports that big of an increase. At the same time we have to pay our bills, so we need to find ways in which we don’t have to spend as much money, so we don’t have to tax as much and be at that eight mill increase,” Myers said. “I think we’re all committed to working to reduce that.”
The full proposed budget can be seen online at statecollegepa.us/401/Budget-Information-Center.
Budget Review Schedule
State and local laws require the budget be adopted on or before Dec. 31 of each calendar year. The council’s schedule shows it will vote to adopt the budget on Dec. 15.
- 7 p.m. Dec. 1: Public hearing, then capital fund review
- Noon Dec. 5: Wrap up
- 7 p.m. Dec. 8: Wrap up
- 7 p.m. Dec. 15: Budget adoption
