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An ordinance of the County of Allegheny, Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, amending Article 210 of the Administrative Code of Allegheny County, entitled “Assessment Standards and Practices,” §5-210.09, entitled “Certification in non-Countywide revaluation or reassessment tax years,” in order to establish a mechanism for prospective property assessment appeal filings.
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Whereas, the Administrative Code of Allegheny County, §210.09 governs filing appeals in years in which no Countywide reassessment or revaluation takes place; and
Whereas, as currently written, §5-210.09.C provides that after the County’s assessment rolls are certified, “[a]ll appeals of any assessment shall be filed with the Appeals Board by the 31st day of March, unless such day falls on a weekend or holiday day, in which case the appeal period shall expire on the next business day thereafter.”; and
Whereas, because many municipalities formulate their budgets for a given calendar year just prior to that calendar year beginning, the County’s March 31 appeal filing deadline imposes a significant amount of uncertainty upon those municipalities’ budget processes, insofar as they must budget expenditures without yet knowing what impact appeals will have on their revenues; and
Whereas, as recently reported by a variety of media outlets, commercial property values within the City of Pittsburgh are falling dramatically as a result of appeal verdicts. In March of 2024 KDKA, for example, indicated that assessment appeals by owners of downtown Pittsburgh office buildings - which saw significant reductions in usage during the pandemic and have never recovered - have cut assessments (and tax payments) in half in some cases (Sheehan, Pittsburgh city controller warns that city is headed into major financial crisis, KDKA News March 6, 2024); and
Whereas, even as revenues are being reduced as a result of appeal verdicts, sizable refund checks must sometimes also be issued; according to that same KDKA...
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