Presenter
Presented by Ms. McDonald
Recommendation
In Committee on Finance & Budget, June 6, 2001
Affirmative Recommendation
AS AMENDED BY SUBSTITUTE
Title
Resolution authorizing and requesting the City Solicitor to take appropriate legal action to compel Allegheny County to provide the City of Pittsburgh with information pertaining to errors and flaws with the Countywide revaluation and assurances that such problems will be promptly remedied.
Body
WHEREAS, pursuant to an order and under the supervision of the Court of Common Pleas, the County of Allegheny has completed a countywide revaluation of all real property located within Allegheny County which has been implemented for the tax year 2001;
WHEREAS, the City of Pittsburgh is an intervenor and therefore an active participant in the litigation which ultimately resulted in the Court order directing the revaluation;
WHEREAS, the Pennsylvania Constitution, statutes and applicable case law require that the revaluation conducted by Allegheny County result in assessments which are uniform and which accurately reflect the actual market value of all properties;
WHEREAS, it is essential to the operation of City government that assessments be fair and accurate so that the Mayor and City Council can properly and confidently fulfill their duties under the Pittsburgh Home Rule Charter to develop and approve an annual budget and to determine tax policy;
WHEREAS, the challenge of establishing an appropriate tax policy and budget (including the need to estimate the rate of tax delinquency) depends on receipt of reliable information from the County;
WHEREAS, based upon the inordinate number of tax assessment appeals which have been filed by property owners for the tax year 2001, and Allegheny County's own admission to taxing jurisdictions that there are a substantial number of properties which have been underassessed, it appears that the revaluation conducted by the County has resulted in an unusually high percentage of assessments which are inaccurate, unfair, unreliable, lack uniformity, and which are not indicative of actual market value;
WHEREAS, conversely, the data collected to date and studies performed by various interested parties consistently reflect a pattern of overassessment in areas of the City of Pittsburgh and elsewhere within the County which are populated by residents of low income;
WHEREAS, it is in the interest of all parties that the City of Pittsburgh (and all other municipalities and school districts within Allegheny County) be given an opportunity to participate in an open process through which flaws in the revaluation are discussed and satisfactory solutions achieved, so that assessed values certified by Allegheny County for the year 2002 and subsequent years be fair, uniform, reliable and accurate;
WHEREAS, the articulation of concerns by City Council has been met with derision by the County and disregarded as being "political" in nature;
WHEREAS, the City simply seeks a forum in which non-proprietary information regarding the County's policies, procedures and plans can be presented in a neutral setting in an understandable and useful manner;
Be it Resolved by the Council of the City of Pittsburgh as follows:
Section 1. The City Solicitor is hereby authorized and requested to take whatever legal action may be necessary, including the filing of a petition in the assessment litigation currently pending in which the City is already an intervenor, to compel Allegheny County to present the following information to the Court:
(1) a complete and thorough explanation of the methodology employed in the performance of the recent Countywide revaluation, and the methodology to be employed going forward;
(2) an explanation of the documented existence of an unusually high percentage of overassessed residential properties in low income areas of the City of Pittsburgh and elsewhere in the County;
(3) an explanation of what steps, if any, the County plans to take to make sure that all assessment appeals filed for the 2001 tax year are heard in a professional and timely manner;
(4) a list of all properties, identified by ward, street address and block and lot number, as to which an assessment appeal has been filed by the owner;
(5) a verification that the County will review all sales of properties through at least June, 2001, and that the County will use such information to determine assessed values for the year 2002;
(6) an explanation of how the County will use information and data collected from sales information and through the appeals process to adjust values of comparable properties in 2002 and ensuing years; and
(7) an explanation of how the County's plans to correct flaws and to address problems revealed through the appeals process and otherwise.
NOTE: I do hereby certify that the foregoing Ordinance duly engrossed and certified, was delivered by me to the Mayor for his approval of disapproval and that the Mayor failed to approve or disapprove the same, whereupon it became law without his approval, under the provisons of the Act of the Assembly in such case made and provided.
Linda M. Johnson-Wasler
Clerk of Council