Gov. Josh Shapiro (D-PA) announced that the state would begin distributing property tax rebate checks to seniors beginning next week.
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NewsTranscript
00:00I'm ready super let's do it good morning everyone thank you so much for being
00:04here in Dauphin County specifically here at the Dauphin County Housing
00:08Authority I want to welcome you all to our very newly updated community room
00:12here servicing the community in Dauphin County so as a housing provider in these
00:18very challenging times we haven't are encouraged by the statewide actions that
00:23continue to uplift our residents the property tax credit rent rebate program
00:28provides a direct financial assistant to older adults and those with
00:32disabilities as costs continue to rise the injection of dollars can provide
00:37stability to Pennsylvanians who are trying to make ends meet as a supporter
00:42of this program the Housing Authority provides application services to our
00:46participants in 2024 alone to date the authority has completed over 550
00:52applications that is more than 75% of our public housing participants staff
00:59continues to be a bridge between the state programs and the residents of
01:03Dauphin County investing in older adults financial security can lead to long-term
01:08benefits including better housing stability better health outcomes and
01:12reduced reliance on social services this program continues to be an economic
01:17boost for our vulnerable communities and we thank Governor Shapiro and your team
01:21for your expansion to this program to include more Pennsylvanians as well as a
01:26higher dollar return is now my pleasure to welcome Governor Josh Shapiro thank
01:31you thank you thank you Leah good morning everybody it's good to be here
01:38and to see all of you see so many familiar faces Diane and others and I
01:43just want to say this is a good day here in Stilton here in Dauphin County and
01:49here all across Pennsylvania I think represent Madsen this might be my third
01:54trip to Stilton in like the last two weeks or something but I want to say how
01:59blessed you are to have represent Madsen working hard for you every day and I
02:03know we were going to be joined by Commissioner Hartwick he's in a meeting
02:06but he and his colleagues on the board are doing a wonderful job as well listen
02:12I wanted to just come here today and let you know how grateful I am for the
02:17conversations that we have had over the last couple years here in Pennsylvania
02:22the time where I was campaigning to be your governor and then in my early days
02:27as your governor I heard seniors loud and clear that they're struggling with
02:32rising costs and they needed a little bit of extra help I heard from so many
02:37of you the lifeline that is the property tax rent rebate but also I heard from
02:43you the frustrations with the property tax rent rebate the fact that it hadn't
02:47been updated in 20 years the fact that every time you got one of those COLA
02:52increases for Social Security it knocked so many seniors out and they couldn't
02:57get the relief anymore the fact that the relief that those could get just wasn't
03:03keeping up with the cost of goods and services and it was making your decisions
03:08on a fixed income even more difficult and challenging those conversations had
03:13an impact on me I heard you loud and clear and I made a commitment to you
03:18that is your governor we were going to address it and you know what we brought
03:23together a bipartisan group of lawmakers to get that done to show the government
03:29could listen to the voices of the people and meet the needs of the good people of
03:35Pennsylvania particularly our seniors and those who are disabled and then we
03:39could deliver meaningful relief at a time of rising costs all across this
03:44Commonwealth and across this country we made a promise and we kept that promise
03:49and I'm here today back in Stilton back in Dauphin County to tell you that the
03:54check is literally in the mail and that seniors are going to begin to receive
03:59their relief starting Monday if you've signed up to get relief electronically
04:06you're gonna get that hit your bank account early next week and if you
04:10signed up to receive a check they'll be coming out over the course of the next
04:14week or so Secretary Brown who runs the Department of Revenue is here this is
04:20the guy who's literally carrying checks all around Pennsylvania handing them off
04:23to seniors I do want to say a word about Secretary Brown and the team at the
04:29Department of Revenue they're the ones that administer the property tax rent
04:32rebate program they have done a hell of a job for you they are working overtime
04:38right now to make sure that that relief hits your bank account hits your
04:41mailbox as quickly as possible and let me tell you something they're not only
04:46working overtime they're processing things more quickly and they've got a
04:50lot more demand let me talk about that for a minute they have turned around 95
04:57of the applications that have come in just to give you some context on that
05:02last year at this point they had only turned around 75% of those applications
05:07so they're working a lot more quickly and a lot more efficiently and we're
05:11grateful to Secretary Brown and the team at the Department of Revenue but now let
05:16me give you some other numbers the benefit that seniors are going to have
05:20across Pennsylvania as of July 1st which is on Monday over 442,000
05:29Pennsylvania seniors are slated to receive 266 million dollars in property
05:36tax relief including 9,000 people here in Dauphin County and it sounds like a
05:44whole bunch of folks right here in this building that is an incredible increase
05:50over last year let me give you those numbers last year 283,000
05:56Pennsylvanians received 132 million dollars at this point so hear me on this
06:02that's 283,000 people last year jumped to 442,000 seniors this year and at this
06:10point last year we had sent out a hundred and thirty two million dollars
06:14in relief and this year it's 266 million double the amount of relief for seniors
06:20across Pennsylvania just like I committed to you but now hear me on this
06:26I'm gonna need your help on this there are still a hundred and twenty five
06:30thousand Pennsylvania seniors who qualify for relief but haven't yet
06:35signed up for it and so we got to get the word out to all of them remember I
06:40said before 266 million dollars is being sent out by this guy and his team
06:45starting Monday well that's not capped at 266 million dollars we still have
06:51enough relief available for those hundred and twenty five thousand
06:54Pennsylvania seniors who were owed that relief that is why using my authority as
06:59governor and the secretary's authority we extended the deadline which was
07:04supposed to end on July 1st we extended it to December 31st now if you've
07:08already signed up it doesn't matter to you but if you haven't signed up yet and
07:12you're watching or listening to this what are you waiting for come get your
07:16money we worked hard to deliver those resources for you and we want to make
07:20sure you get the help you need to combat rising costs put more money in your
07:25pocket to help you deal with living on a fixed income and so I want seniors to go
07:30and sign up here's how you can sign up well you can work with your team right
07:35here to get you the help that you need you can head on over to PA gov slash PT
07:43RR it's a new website we develop it's super easy to fill out and you can do
07:49that from the comfort of your own home apartment couch wherever you are if you
07:53feel like you need a little bit of assistance and you live here in
07:56Stilton head on over to Front Street to represent Madsen's office where he and
08:01his team are doing great work to get people signed up for the property tax
08:05rent rebate here's the bottom line there's no wrong door you can go online
08:09you can visit with the Department of Revenue you can do it here in your
08:14housing complex or you can stop by one of your state representatives for state
08:21centers listen I want to end where I began I want to thank the seniors of
08:25Pennsylvania for speaking up for demanding more from their state
08:30government and I want you to know we listened I think it's also important for
08:34you to understand how we delivered that and the context within which we
08:39delivered it you know I'm the only governor in the entire country that
08:44works with a divided legislature literally the only one we've got a
08:48Senate led by Republicans and a house led by Democrats and listen in these
08:53polarized times you all know it's kind of hard to bring Democrats and
08:57Republicans together yet that's exactly what we did and by the way we did it in
09:01my first year in office and I think it's an example of the progress we can make
09:07together here in Pennsylvania if we just continue to focus on common-sense things
09:11on compromise on getting stuff done for the good people of Pennsylvania that has
09:18been the cause of my work as your governor it's going to continue to be
09:21the cause of my work as your governor and in this case the seniors of
09:26Pennsylvania are the beneficiaries of all of us coming together working
09:30together finding common ground and getting stuff done so I want to thank
09:34you for having me back today and it is now my pleasure to introduce someone
09:39that I'm sure all of you know and that is your neighbor Liz to say a few words
09:44Liz thank you I just want to speak on rent rebates it's been a pleasure having
09:57the rent rebates as a seat as a senior and before being a senior I was I was a
10:02disabled person the rent rebate always came in the middle of summer it was like
10:09Christmas in July and I think all of the seniors feel the same way those of us
10:16that weren't working that's like an income tax check it's something that we
10:21got every year we look forward to it it helped us buy the things maybe your
10:27winter coat in the summertime because you couldn't afford it throughout the
10:31year living on a fixed income is very hard I I had started a part-time job
10:41that's last year year before I was not eligible for the rent rebate Governor
10:49Shapiro raised the ceiling for amount that you can make this year I can get
10:57the rent rebate and I thank you for that thank you good job thank you very
11:04much thank you thank you Liz and behalf of the entire team at the Department of
11:13Revenue I'm proud to be with Governor Shapiro talk about a very important
11:16initiative and his leadership on behalf of all the seniors here in Pennsylvania
11:20it goes without saying some of the most significant programs that are
11:24administered by federal and state governments are ones that benefit
11:26seniors but if they're not updated on a consistent basis the numbers of seniors
11:31that can benefit from them logically decreases and the numbers in the tax and
11:36rent rebate program are compelling in that regard from 2005 to 2023 163,000
11:43senior citizens were no longer eligible 70,000 70 million dollars was no longer
11:48allocated and that's a drop in about 30% of the total claimants in the program
11:54for Governor Shapiro not having this program updated over 20 years and having
11:59that many seniors no longer receiving it was unacceptable because of his
12:03leadership working with the General Assembly we will now see another round
12:07of having more than 550,000 claimants in the program but of course you need an
12:14administrator of the program this case Department of Revenue that is prepared
12:18to facilitate the significant increase in number of claimants as Governor
12:24Shapiro had mentioned we are proud to say that we had put the process
12:27improvements in place changed our process to make sure we could
12:32accomplish this just some quick statistics since on July 1 we'll be
12:37prepared to send out and Governor Shapiro said 440,000 rebates to
12:43qualified seniors that's a 58 percent increase from our prior year here in
12:48Dauphin County 10,700 total and 2,900 total new recipients because of the
12:54governor's leadership because of the governor's efforts to extend the program
13:00we are looking to facilitate the program's participation by another
13:05125,000 seniors so please for those who are viewing this today please take
13:12advantage of that we have until December 31st to consider future claims and just
13:18to close a short sales pitch this program is sustainable only because of
13:25those who choose that have gaming in their entertainment entertainment
13:30throughout the year to choose to participate in the Pennsylvania lottery
13:33the patronage of Pennsylvanians to this to our lottery is what makes the tax
13:38rebate program sustainable so thank you for the opportunity to talk about the
13:43Department of Revenue and its work on this program and we look forward to
13:47working under Governor Shapiro's leadership to continue to assist and
13:50lead on behalf of Pennsylvania seniors so thank you I'll turn this over to
13:55representative from the area representative Matson so a lot of what I
14:03had prepared has already been said so I'm not gonna belabor the point but I
14:07want to thank the governor for coming to the 104th legislative district again and
14:12actually he this is the fourth time I think in less than three months so we
14:17had a we were in Pakistan celebrating the whole home repairs program and
14:21advocating for that together we were in the mill and with Cleveland Cliffs and
14:26Secretary Pete Buttigieg celebrating the relationship there that we're having and
14:31the expansion of good-paying union jobs they're gonna exist in the district and
14:34then we're at the Boys and Girls Club playing basketball last week and now
14:37we're here with our seniors yes he has an amazing jump shot I was pretty stunned
14:44so I mean look all of those things are important whole homes repaired good
14:49paying union jobs after summer enrichment programs for our youth and
14:52now this and I'll say this I'm on the Appropriations Committee and I believe
14:58that the budget is a moral document and you can judge the moral character of
15:03society by how you treat your most vulnerable and I think this program
15:07right here is a testament that what we're trying to do for our most
15:10vulnerable citizens amongst us we are not just saying this we're backing it up
15:14with true action and we're helping residents in our districts and across
15:18Pennsylvania so I just want to thank the governor's team for their great and
15:21stellar work and the folks that run this facility we partner with them and we've
15:24done a lot to get rent rebates and supporting our seniors so I just glad to
15:30have him here again and his team and I'm look forward to the next thing but
15:33I want to hear if there's any questions from residents or the press and I'll let
15:37him handle that part thank you thanks everybody I want to get the chance to
15:45visit with all of you before I do that I got to take some questions from our
15:49friends in the media so let's take a couple questions and then we'll get the
15:52chance to talk anybody talk about the trying to get more seniors onto the
15:58program do you know how many how much more money could be given out to seniors
16:02if they do sign up by December 31st the way to look at it is not how much money
16:07is available the way to look at is how many seniors are eligible there are a
16:11hundred and twenty five thousand seniors who are eligible who have not yet
16:15applied and we have the resources we have the money to be able to drive out
16:20to each and every one of them who are eligible and apply and as I said before
16:24the Department of Revenue is doing an extraordinary job processing those
16:28applications they process about 95% of the applications you know I mean they're
16:33they're working at an incredibly fast pace and so if you are eligible we want
16:38you to sign up at PA gov slash PTR are and get the money that you are talk a
16:45little bit about as you mentioned that you know divided government very hard to
16:48get bills passed and everything the effort it took to get you know
16:52everything through so this can actually happen for many thousands of Pennsylvania
16:56seniors look I focus on common-sense things that get stuff done for the good
17:01people of Pennsylvania that can bring Republicans and Democrats together to
17:06accomplish meaningful things that make people's lives better that is the cause
17:11of my work that is the focus of my work and I've been pleased with the
17:15bipartisan support we've received on a number of initiatives and this is one
17:20example of that progress we've made together and a final question since we
17:24have you here this week obviously three yeah right here is I get to do that so
17:29final question you know this week being budget week how are you looking how are
17:34things going with the negotiation process for the final budget and do you
17:37think we're gonna actually get a budget on time on Friday here's what I'll say
17:41we have had a very productive and a very honest dialogue and I can tell you that
17:47all parties are working incredibly hard we were literally working I think past
17:53midnight last night we've had really good dialogue especially over the
17:58weekend and we're making good progress there are resources available to do the
18:03things that both parties want to do and I think everyone understands that in a
18:09divided government you've got to compromise and what I've been saying for
18:12months is that I don't know exactly how every single line item of this budget
18:17will play out but I can tell you for sure I know one thing and that is every
18:22party is going to have to compromise and in compromise were able to achieve
18:26progress for the good people of Pennsylvania we're gonna keep working
18:30diligently we're gonna keep working honestly and we're gonna get there
18:34together
18:37will the statute of limitations constitutional amendment get passed and
18:41if so is your office pushing for it to get done before lawmakers break after
18:46passing a budget did you say it two questions or well here's what I'm not
18:53gonna do I'm not gonna get into any specifics about the dialogue that we're
18:56having I am very clear on record in supporting reform to our statute of
19:01limitations I have felt that way since I was Attorney General and continue to
19:06advocate for it as governor he had to yeah okay thank you as budget
19:15negotiations continue what other bills or measures do you want to see reach
19:19your desk yeah well there are a number of initiatives that the house and Senate
19:24and and I care about and we're working through all of that right now to do our
19:29best to find common ground around the things that can pass in the divided
19:33legislature as I said before I'm not going to get into any specifics of our
19:37discussions I can just tell you they have been very productive and very
19:41honest and we're working hard to reach that common ground thank you so much
19:46governor I'm gonna guess you're not going to get the specifics again but I
19:50just want to check one thing on transit you called for that in your budget
19:53address within the building folks are saying we can't address transit if we
19:57don't put more to other transportation typically roads and bridges do you have
20:01I think you already answered your own question I'm not going to get into
20:04specifics here thanks everybody I look forward to getting the chance to visit
20:07with you thank you