Homeowners allowed to fight new assessments

Judge Wettick says city, Mount Oliver property values may be appealed

Saturday, November 05, 2011

By Len Barcousky, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

Homeowners in Pittsburgh and Mount Oliver will get a chance to challenge their new real estate values through informal appeals next month.

Allegheny County Common Pleas Court Judge R. Stanton Wettick Jr. on Friday issued an order setting up a new schedule for completing the city’s portion of the county-wide reassessment that includes 38 days for those reviews. Read more

Property assessments in Pittsburgh on track, despite setbacks

By Jeremy Boren, PITTSBURGH TRIBUNE-REVIEW
Wednesday, October 26, 2011

Allegheny County officials told a judge today that they’re on track to complete a court-ordered property reassessment of Pittsburgh and Mt. Oliver by Dec. 10, despite setbacks last week in assessing some commercial properties in the city.

Common Pleas Senior Judge R. Stanton Wettick ordered the county’s reassessment staff in September to focus its time on Pittsburgh and Mt. Oliver so city tax collections may begin early next year. That would allow the city and Pittsburgh Public Schools to avoid being forced to borrow money to support operations. Read more . . .

Allegheny County housing market — feast or famine

By Timothy Puko, PITTSBURGH TRIBUNE-REVIEW
Thursday, October 13, 2011
Last updated: 12:29 pm

When Melissa Sharrocks left Long Island, N.Y., to move to Pittsburgh in 2009, she sought an affordable place to buy a new home. The community she found happened to be among Allegheny County’s best suburban real estate investments of the past decade.

It isn’t Sewickley, Mt. Lebanon or Pine, with some of the most expensive housing stock around.

Though home values in those places are rising, it’s one of the county’s smallest, newest suburbs that outdid all the rest: Pennsbury Village.
Read more

Quality check: Reassessed taxpayers deserve an informal appeal

Monday, October 10, 2011

Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

It will be unfortunate if the timing of Allegheny County’s court-ordered reassessment precludes its property owners from being able to file informal appeals.

A decade ago when the county underwent a large-scale assessment, owners had the chance to correct factual errors through an informal appeal. After the county sent out notices with preliminary assessed values, property owners could request an informal review to refute details that went into the calculations. Read more

Good article by State Senator Wayne D. Fontana

Proceed to the article

Speed of reassessment may preclude informal appeals

Wednesday, October 05, 2011

By Len Barcousky, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

With deadlines for completing Allegheny County’s court-ordered reassessment fast approaching, county manager Jim Flynn said Tuesday that he could offer no assurance that property owners would have an opportunity to make informal challenges of their new values.

That option had been available to residents following the previous reassessment in 2002. Property owners still would have the right to formal appeals after they receive their new numbers. Read more

Staffing woes hurt Allegheny County assessment effort

By Pittsburgh Tribune-Review
Wednesday, September 28, 2011

Allegheny County assessors have fallen behind in assessing commercial properties, according to a supervisor with the firm overseeing the county’s reassessment program.

Two assessors resigned and two others were fired, Wesley Graham said during a meeting Tuesday to update Common Pleas Judge R. Stanton Wettick on the progress of the program. Graham said he hopes to have the remaining 15,085 assessments completed in November. Read more