New Bloomfield, Pennsylvania
New Bloomfield is a borough in Perry County, Pennsylvania, and is the county seat. The population was 1,247 at the 2010 census. It is part of the Harrisburg–Carlisle metropolitan statistical area.
History
New Bloomfield was laid out in 1823, and named for the blooming clovers near the original town site. A post office called New Bloomfield has been in operation since 1825.The Perry County Courthouse was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1975.
Name
The official name of the borough is Bloomfield. However the United States Postal Service, presumably to avoid confusion with the neighborhood of Pittsburgh which is also named Bloomfield, refers to the area as "New Bloomfield."Geography
According to the United States Census Bureau, the borough has a total area of, all of it land.Demographics
As of the census of 2000, there were 1,077 people, 396 households, and 255 families living in the borough. The population density was 1,983.1 people per square mile. There were 425 housing units at an average density of 782.6 per square mile. The racial makeup of the borough was 98.89% White, 0.56% African American, 0.28% Native American, and 0.28% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 0.56% of the population.There were 396 households out of which 29.8% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 51.0% were married couples living together, 9.6% had a female householder with no husband present, and 35.4% were non-families. 31.6% of all households were made up of individuals and 15.2% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.25 and the average family size was 2.84.
In the borough the population was spread out with 19.9% under the age of 18, 9.3% from 18 to 24, 24.6% from 25 to 44, 21.4% from 45 to 64, and 24.9% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 42 years. For every 100 females, there were 90.6 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 93.9 males.
The median income for a household in the borough was $39,018, and the median income for a family was $47,500. Males had a median income of $30,781 versus $24,286 for females. The per capita income for the borough was $17,168. About 6.0% of families and 7.6% of the population were below the poverty line, including 10.3% of those under age 18 and 6.1% of those age 65 or over.
Government
Bloomfield Borough is governed by a seven member, locally elected council. There is also an elected mayor.;Local Taxes
In 2013, Bloomfield Borough property owners were subject to the following real estate millage rates: 2.16220 mills plus.37000 mills for the fire department. The Borough also assesses a $5 per year per capita tax. For 2013–14, the school district's millage is 10.210 mills. The West Perry School District also levies a 1.7% earned income tax which applies only to wage earners and a $5 per year per capita tax. Both social security income and pension income are exempted from the earned income tax regardless of the wealth of the individual or the amount of the pension.
;County level:
Three, elected at large, Perry County Commissioners. In 2015, they are: Brenda K. Benner, Stephen C. Naylor and Paul L Rudy Jr. The County levies several taxes including a 3.3125 millage on property in 2014. Perry County also receives funding from both the state and federal government. The County is mandated by the Pennsylvania General Assembly to provide many social services to residents. Perry County has one of the highest median property taxes in the United States, and is ranked 550th of the 3143 counties in order of median property taxes. The average yearly property tax paid by Perry County residents amounts to about 3.11% of their yearly income. Perry County ranked 538th out of the 3143 United States counties for property taxes as a percentage of median income. According to a report prepared by the Pennsylvania Department of Education, the total real estate taxes collected by all school districts in Pennsylvania rose from $6,474,133,936 in 1999-2000 to $10,438,463,356 in 2008-2009 and to $11,153,412,490 in 2010–2011. Property taxes in Pennsylvania are relatively high on a national scale. According to the Tax Foundation, Pennsylvania ranked 11th in the U.S. in 2008 in terms of property taxes paid as a percentage of home value and 12th in the country in terms of property taxes as a percentage of income.
Education
New Bloomfield Borough lies within the West Perry School District. In 2013, the District's enrollment declined to 2,527 students. The District provides full day kindergarten through 12th grade. In 2014, the Pittsburgh Business Times ranked West Perry School District 371st out of 496 Pennsylvania public school districts for academic achievement of its pupils.High School students and adults can attend the publicly funded Cumberland Perry Area Vocational Technical School which is located in Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania. CPAVTA provides students training in the: construction and mechanical trades, culinary arts, health aids, computer technical careers and other fields. Students may also attend Capital Area Online Learning Association online education programs. The service is operated by the Capital Area Intermediate Unit 15. School aged residents may also attend the Capital Area School for the Arts which is an arts charter school located in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania.
School aged Bloomfield residents may also apply to attend any of the Commonwealth's 14 public cyber charter schools at no additional cost to the parents. The resident's public school district is required to pay the charter school and cyber charter school tuition for residents who attend these public schools. By Commonwealth law, if the District provides transportation for its own students, then the District must provide transportation to any school that lies within 10 miles of its borders. Residents may also seek admission for their school aged child to any other public school district. When accepted for admission, the student's parents are responsible for paying an annual tuition fee set by the Pennsylvania Department of Education. In 2012, the tuition fees for West Perry School District were: Elementary School - $7,477.04, High School - $10,138.63.
Capital Area Intermediate Unit #15 provides a wide variety of services to children living in its service region which includes Bloomfield. Early screening, special educations services, speech and hearing therapy and many other services like driver education are available. Services for children during the preschool years are provided without cost to their families when the child is determined to meet eligibility requirements.
Community members have access to the Community Library of West Perry County in Blain; the Bloomfield Public Library and to the statewide PA Power Library which is an online library funded with tax dollars through the state's annual education budget.
Bloomfield residents have access to Harrisburg Area Community College. People residing in the community fund HACC in part through an annual payment made by West Perry School District. Twenty two local public school districts are required to contribute annually to HACC regardless of whether any residents are attending the college. Full-time students from these districts, who attend HACC, pay $1,674 for 12 credit hours.