Property Reassessment Agreement Reached

Allegheny County officials, lawyers representing property owners and Common Pleas Court Judge R. Stanton Wettick reached an agreement this morning to reassess all 575,000 privately owned properties in the county by 2012. Judge Wettick noted that the county's newly submitted plan complies with the state supreme court's decision that found the county's base-year system to be unconstitutional and his order to follow a 4-year rotating assessment plan or offer a new plan that would institute new assessments by 2012. Earlier in the week, county solicitor Michael Wojcik drew the ire of the judge when he offered up a plan that would have delayed properties reassessments until 2013.

Under the new agreement, the county will send notices to property owners within the first quarter of 2010 and will hire an outside contractor by March to help with the reassessment process. Property owner lawyer Robert Junker says they have some concern that the under-staffed and over-burdened Office of Property Assessments won't be able to keep up with the time-line. But he says county administrators have promised to comply and he expects them to keep their word.

Judge Rejects County's Assessment Plan

A visibly upset judge has given Allegheny County until Friday to come up with a new plan to reassess all 570,000 properties within an acceptable time frame. In November Judge Stanton Wettick outlined a 4-year rotating assessment system to replace the county’s current base year plan that has been ruled unconstitutional. He also left the door open to the county creating a plan of its own to have all the work done by 2012. That order included an order that the county report its progress December 2nd. At the meeting yesterday the county offered a two and a half page plan that would not finish the work until 2013. The judge asked the county why it did not comply with his order and then asked the county chief assessor Edward Schoenberger if he had read the order. His response was that he had read “half of it,” saying his supervisors told him it did not comply with the state’s uniformity clause. County Solicitor Michael Wojcik apologized to the judge if the county had offended him. Judge Wettick quickly ordered a second meeting Friday. The county refused to comment on the proceedings but lawyer for the homeowners who originally filed suit, Ira Weiss, says he does not know what to expect Friday. He says so far the county has “thumbed its nose at the court” and it is “lucky [Wettick is] such a patient judge.” He says the county has meet the judge’s order with “petulance and defiance.” Donald Driscoll is another lawyer for the complainants. He says the plan offered by the county is “totally unacceptable” and the county “must make amends” to the tax- payers that have been over paying for years.

Spot Assessment Bill Back on Front Burner

A group of lawmakers say they're not giving up on a package of property tax bills Governor Ed Rendell vetoed twice last legislative session. The latest effort to pass a measure eliminating so-called "spot appeals" of property taxes is making its way through the PA House. Two separate times, lawmakers sent Governor Rendell a bill that would ban school districts and municipalities from reassessing the property tax value of recently sold homes. Both times, Rendell struck down the measures. Representative Tim Seip says hiking property taxes on some homeowners, but not others, is fundamentally wrong. He says he watched it happen to a group of homes in his own district, “They're in a development that was built at the same time, by the same builder, with identical floor plans on identical lot sizes. But those who bought the homes prior to 1996 will pay one rate, and someone who moves in today will pay the 2009 rate for the same exact property.” Allegheny County lawyers have been fighting school districts engaged in spot assessments for the last few years. Seip's new package is identical to a bill that passed the House with 140 votes and cleared the Senate with 38 in the last session. Rendell's spokesman, Chuck Ardo, says the Governor would veto it again if it reaches his desk. He says Rendell is concerned the legislation would remove powers municipalities have to challenge county property assessments they think are too low. A suit field against Allegheny County’s assessment system could eventually force all counties in the state to assess properties more often.

High Court Asked to Stay Reassessment Order

Allegheny County Chief Executive Dan Onorato has asked the Pennsylvania Supreme Court to stay for 180 days its order for Common Pleas Court to determine a timeline for a countywide property reassessment. Onorato asked the high court for the delay to allow the legislature time to approve changes that he says are needed to make the assessment system fair in all 67 counties.."during these difficult economic times, families across Pennsylvania are worried that unfair property tax increases will make it even harder to stay in their homes."
On April 29, the state Supreme Court ruled that Allegheny County's 2002 base year system treated property owners unfairly. However, many other counties in the state also use a base year system.