Allegheny County Councilmembers weighing reassessment, PPS facing lawsuit to force one

PITTSBURGH — Allegheny County Council members are weighing a reassessment as it faces a lawsuit from Pittsburgh Public Schools to force one.

“The longer ago an assessment happens, the further the assessed value is from the actual value of your house,” said County Councilperson At-Large Bethany Hallam.

Several property owners spoke in support of frequent tax assessments at a public hearing Wednesday.

“We are thus the largest county in the entire country that does not do regular reassessments,” said Jack Billings of Pittsburgh.

David Vatz of Squirrel Hill agreed.

“The failure to assess regularly means that assessments have grown increasingly distant from fair market value,” Vatz said. “As a result, newer homeowners end up paying higher tax rates than incumbent homeowners.”

The hearing comes as a lawsuit, filed by Pittsburgh Public Schools in April to force a reassessment through the courts, hangs in the balance.

PPS said it would level the playing field after years of not doing them on homes.

The last countywide reassessment was done in 2012, leading to serious financial shortfalls at PPS. School administrators claim if it runs out of money, the early childhood, preschool and school programs would be in jeopardy.

“If they feel they need more money, they have the option to raise taxes,” said County Councilman At-Large Sam DeMarco. “I don’t know that we need to do something today that’s going to cause chaos in the other 42 school districts.”

Lisa Schwartz of Jefferson Hills said she had to appeal her property taxes twice.

“You do this, you have the one-third of the population whose property tax assessments go up, people are going to leave,” Schwartz said. “I’m going to leave.”

County council members made it clear that they would not address the lawsuit during Wednesday night’s hearing. They said the meeting was all about hearing from taxpayers.

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