The house owned by Maddie Gioffre and Shaquille Charles, center, is subject to tax bills that are roughly double those of the house on the left, and triple the property on the right. The lawsuit in which they are lead plaintiffs may result in thousands of reduced tax bills. (Photo by Lindsay Dill/PublicSource)
Plaintiffs expect the county to extend an appeals deadline, potentially allowing thousands of owners to take advantage of the county’s concession.
by Rich Lord, PublicSource
An agreement reached in court on Wednesday may open the door for thousands of Allegheny County property owners to appeal their property tax assessments and potentially trim their 2022 and future bills, according to the plaintiffs.
The county has signed a consent order with attorneys representing nine property owners, which is likely to have the effect of forcing downward the assessments that result from current and future appeals. Assessments resulting from appeals are often at odds with those of neighboring properties, PublicSource found in reporting the ongoing series Unbalanced: How property tax assessments create winners and losers.
John Silvestri, attorney for the plaintiffs, said the order has the obvious effect of allowing property owners with high assessments to trim their tax bills, but could also allow homeowners in struggling areas to shed some of the burden they now bear.
“What this does is it really gives the opportunity for these economically distressed areas to adjust their values downward,” he said.
A statement issued by the county did not directly address the order’s effect on properties subject to appeals in prior years, and follow-up questions submitted by PublicSource were not immediately answered.
For a decade, assessments for properties that have not been sold or substantially altered have been largely frozen as a result of County Executive Rich Fitzgerald’s decision to declare 2012 the “base year” for property taxation.
School districts, municipalities and property owners, though, have the right to appeal assessments if they can present evidence that they no longer reflect market values. School districts often appeal the values of properties after they are sold for prices far above their assessments, arguing that the sales prove the market value.
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