Municipal and school officials in Butler appeared to score a victory last week when the state Commonwealth Court upheld a denial of AK Steel’s appeal on a property tax assessment.

But if any ground-level politician is feeling the urge for an end zone celebration, please suppress any temptation to spike the football. The ruling does nothing to address long-term trends and flaws that only amplify over time the unfairness of Pennsylvania’s tax structure, particularly as it pertains to property tax for collection of municipal, county and school district taxes.

The Commonwealth Court opinion, delivered Tuesday, affirmed a March 9, 2016, ruling by the Butler County Court, upholding the tax appraisal of the AK Steel property at $2.12 million for the 2015-16 school year and $1.97 million for the 2016-17 school year.

AK appealed the Common Pleas Court decision in November 2016 on its 1,257-acre property and 2.8 million square-foot steel plant, the AK Steel Butler Works.

While the latest ruling ensures that Butler County, Township and School District get their full share of property tax they say they are owed by AK for the school years in question, it fails to address broader, long-term trends that spell trouble ahead for taxing bodies — namely, that their outdated tax structure relies too heavily on some sources like property and gasoline tax, and too little from many other sources.

And it’s vital that we keep a sense of balance in the discussion.

For one thing, AK Steel has been an industrial mainstay and a reliable employer in our community for many years, as was its predecessor, Armco. AK is one of the few blue-collar employers remaining in Butler County. How many of us, or someone we know, have benefitted from the decent wages paid by AK and ARMCO throughout the years? Its management-level employees have served and contributed to countless charitable and service organizations; they have led their share of them, as good neighbors do.

The commercial activity and income taxes generated by AK Steel’s payroll probably have far greater impact on the economy than the property tax the company pays, as well.

This is not to imply that such corporate good citizenship merits special treatment. It doesn’t. But it should prompt every effort to provide fair treatment.

AK Steel’s tax appeal is not the problem — although it should be seen as yet one more symptom of a chronic greater problem: an ever-expanding government that has an insatiable appetite for tax dollars.

As one school board member recently asked in frustration: “How does the school district balance its budget when salaries are increasing 1-2 percent, health care’s increasing 4 percent and PSERS (Pennsylvania State Employees Retirement System) is increasing 7-8 percent, and all your revenue (state and local) is increasing only 0.3 percent? You can only cut so much before you are offering a crappy education with huge class sizes, and young working class families (i.e. your tax base) leave for greener pastures.”

Make that young working class families and established industrial employers. If AK Steel needs one solid reason for paying its property tax without complaint, it is that its employees’ children need a good public education.

It’s something to keep in mind about the Commonwealth Court ruling. Nobody wins if we can’t keep the biggest and smallest players in the game.