Allegheny County Councilman Chuck McCullough is calling for a time out on reassessment because of ill communication over the implementation of 2010 reassessment between Council members and County Solicitor and Executive.
McCullough, along with other Council members, Matt Drozd, Vince Gastgeb, and Jan Rea all say that they were unaware or not involved of the court order for the 2012 assessment and do not believe that there was money in the 2010 budget to do the reassessment work.
"I challenge anybody to go through the 2010 budgets, which we already approved three days before, and find anything about property reassessments," McCullough says.
McCullough says that Council should have been consulted.
"We're going to ask the court to call a time out on this. We had a lot of problems eight years ago when we did a reassessment, he had a lot of problems nine years ago when we did a reassessment. We can't afford another round of disaster here."
This afternoon, the four members of Council are going to asked County Pleas Judge Stanton Wettick for a "time out" on reassessments until they can better understand the issue, and McCullough says that if they are denied a time out he might appeal.
Showing posts with label property assessments. Show all posts
Showing posts with label property assessments. Show all posts
Friday, February 18, 2011
Thursday, August 13, 2009
High Court: No Hold on Reassessment
Attorney Ira Weiss, says he’s glad the State Supreme Court is not allowing a reassessment delay for Allegheny County. Weiss represents Allegheny property owners that filed a lawsuit saying a base-year assessment was unconstitutional. A lower court agreed with the plaintiffs but the county quickly asked the higher court for a stay until the state legislature could act. The State House has passed a measure putting a hold on any reassessments but the senate is yet to act. The ruling means the issue now goes back to Judge Stanton Wettick who will decide how the county should proceeded with the reassessment of every property. County Executive Dan
Onorato says he thinks it will be months before the judge issues an order and he hopes the statewide moratorium will be in place by then. The ultimate goal is to change the state’s assessment laws altogether. Onorato says, “I will do everything in my power to prevent a reassessment if the other counties around us do not have to [reassess].”
Ira Weiss says the claim that the county is being victimized for having to reassess is purely fiction. “If you look at other counties that have not had reassessments in a long time, you’ll find that their millage [rates] are much higher than Allegheny County,” Says Weiss. “You need to look at all the numbers to figure out what the tax load is.”
Weiss says the legislation pending in the house (SB 1661) is irrelevant to Allegheny County’s situation. He says he thinks it won’t do any good. “This issue had been studied to death. There is really nothing more to learn about the different systems,” Weiss says. “To me, the notion of placing a hold on the constitutional mandate of fair assessment for the purpose of study is simply to put off the inevitable.”
Onorato counters, “No one is going to convince me how you can explain why Allegheny County has to do one when the counties that border us do not. That makes absolutely no sense… I don’t know how that survives the uniformity clause. It makes no common sense.”
Onorato says he thinks it will be months before the judge issues an order and he hopes the statewide moratorium will be in place by then. The ultimate goal is to change the state’s assessment laws altogether. Onorato says, “I will do everything in my power to prevent a reassessment if the other counties around us do not have to [reassess].”
Ira Weiss says the claim that the county is being victimized for having to reassess is purely fiction. “If you look at other counties that have not had reassessments in a long time, you’ll find that their millage [rates] are much higher than Allegheny County,” Says Weiss. “You need to look at all the numbers to figure out what the tax load is.”
Weiss says the legislation pending in the house (SB 1661) is irrelevant to Allegheny County’s situation. He says he thinks it won’t do any good. “This issue had been studied to death. There is really nothing more to learn about the different systems,” Weiss says. “To me, the notion of placing a hold on the constitutional mandate of fair assessment for the purpose of study is simply to put off the inevitable.”
Onorato counters, “No one is going to convince me how you can explain why Allegheny County has to do one when the counties that border us do not. That makes absolutely no sense… I don’t know how that survives the uniformity clause. It makes no common sense.”
Monday, August 10, 2009
House Bill 1661
Court-ordered countywide property taxes could be postponed if State Senate approves of a bill that would study the state’s property tax reassessment system and address the current problems with the system through enactment of the legislation.
State Representative Frank Dermody, bill sponsor from Allegheny County, says having each county make their own rules creates unfair taxing structures and making some counties uncompetitive.
“What is happening in Allegheny County where there was a lawsuit filed are we’re required to do another reassessment,” Dermody says. “The Supreme Court said that the general assembly is the proper place to develop a comprehensive scheme of assessment that is both comprehensive and constitutional.”
He says the moratorium would not apply to voluntary reassessments, and counties in the middle of a court-ordered reassessment would have the option of continuing with their process. The moratorium would remain in effect until the study is completed or until the end of June 2011.
State Representative Frank Dermody, bill sponsor from Allegheny County, says having each county make their own rules creates unfair taxing structures and making some counties uncompetitive.
“What is happening in Allegheny County where there was a lawsuit filed are we’re required to do another reassessment,” Dermody says. “The Supreme Court said that the general assembly is the proper place to develop a comprehensive scheme of assessment that is both comprehensive and constitutional.”
He says the moratorium would not apply to voluntary reassessments, and counties in the middle of a court-ordered reassessment would have the option of continuing with their process. The moratorium would remain in effect until the study is completed or until the end of June 2011.
Wednesday, September 10, 2008
Base Year Goes Before State Supreme Court
Judge Stanton Wettick ruled that the use of a base year as a means to assess properties is unconstitutional if the law does not include a mechanism to trigger a reassessment. Lawyers representing home owners argued that the law should include either a set number of years between reassessments or a specific mathematical formula to figure deviation of real home values compared to assessed values. Appellee Don Driscoll says right now property owners have no way to demand a reassessment without hiring a lawyer and filing suit. He says that is too high of a burden. Allegheny County Solicitor Mike Wojcik argues that as numbers become more “out of whack” elected officials will do the right thing and reassess to head off any litigation. However other counties in southwestern Pennsylvania are still working on base years that are more than 30 years old. It is unclear when the court would rule but if it upholds the lower court decision it would force nearly every county in the state to reassess baring action from the state legislature.
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