That's an average cut of 10 percent for eligible home and farm owners outside Philadelphia in the 2008-09 school year, state officials said yesterday.

Philadelphia residents will get a 5.7 percent reduction in the wage tax in 2009, while suburbanites who work in the city will get a 5 percent drop.

Slot machines were legalized in 2004 on the promise of tax cuts, and revenue helped expand a tax- and rent-rebate program for low-income seniors last year.

"It took us a while to get here, but we are finally here," said Michael Masch, Gov. Rendell's budget secretary.

The Rendell administration said yesterday that based on census estimates, 3.1 million home and farm owners outside Philadelphia will be eligible. But to receive a reduction, they must have completed and returned an application sent by the county. The number who did so will not be known until May, Education Department spokesman Michael Race said.

Based on a formula developed by the legislature and the Governor's Office, the slots money will be weighted toward homeowners in school districts where property taxes are relatively high and incomes and property values low.

The state has collected $905 million from slot machines to reduce taxes since the first one lit up at Mohegan Sun at Pocono Downs in November 2006.

Based on the amount of slots revenue expected by Oct. 15, the state will distribute $612 million for the tax cuts and $48.5 million for the rebate program for low-income seniors, while keeping about $273 million in reserve.

Nearly $87 million will be set aside to cut Philadelphia's wage tax in 2009. The resident rate will decline to 3.93 percent from 4.169 percent, and the nonresident rate will decline to 3.5 percent from 3.685 percent.

Masch said he had decided to more than the mandated $100 million in reserve to ensure that next year's tax cuts are at least as large as this year's. After that, more slot-machine casinos are expected to open, boosting revenue until it is expected to provide $1 billion in tax cuts in 2012, Masch said.