Reassessment delay draws scorn

Luzerne County reassessment company representative Tim Barr said he keeps hearing people calling for the reassessment to be “postponed,” “extended” and “delayed,” but there is no such thing.

“They should be using the word ‘repeated,’ ” said Barr, of 21st Century Appraisals Inc.

His comment was prompted by the latest entity to use one of those words, the Greater Wilkes-Barre Association of Realtors Inc. The organization has officially asked county commissioners to delay the certification, or acceptance, of the new assessed values another year so they would take effect in 2010.

Barr said many property owners are under the mistaken impression that the county can simply spend another year tweaking the values that were already sent.

In reality, values must be mailed by July 1 of the year before they take effect, which means all values would have to be sent again, he says.

Barr said he expects people would want those new values updated to include 2008 real estate market changes. Because there would be new values, all work done in this year’s informal and formal appeals would be thrown out, with the exception of error corrections on acreage and basic property descriptions, he said.

“Plus, I presume there would have to be a research project if part of the reason for a repeat is data issues at Harveys Lake,” Barr said, questioning whether taxpayers will want to pay someone to perform deed research and title searches on properties around the lake.

The county would also have to provide a call center, temporary appeals boards and sites for appeals.

Property owners who paid for certified appraisals this year may reuse them if the reassessment is halted, but they will likely carry less weight with appeals boards because they’d be a year older, Barr said.

Some property owners argue that property owners should have more time to prepare for formal appeals, but Barr said the law requires that property owners file their appeals within 40 days of receiving their values.

“I don’t want to see the county waste the money. I don’t want to see all the hard work done over the last five years thrown away,” Barr said.

Instead, Barr said he supports proceeding with formal assessment appeals through the Oct. 31 deadline, possibly seeking permission from the court for an extension if necessary. He believes the law permits the board to hear appeals as long as they are concluded “previous to the payment of the tax.” That belief is currently being reviewed by county lawyers.

He said the county should also encourage property owners who missed appeal deadlines to file formal appeals by Sept. 1, 2009. While that won’t help them with 2009 taxes, any reductions, if granted, would take effect in 2010, he said.

County officials have estimated the cost of repeating the reassessment would be $800,000 to $1 million, but Barr believes it would be significantly higher. He estimates it will cost millions to redo the reassessment next year, regardless of whether the county hires his company or another one.

Commissioners Maryanne Petrilla and Stephen A. Urban plan to continue with formal assessment appeals with the goal of implementing the new values next year. Commissioner Greg Skrepenak wants to cancel the project indefinitely.

Jennifer Learn-Andes, a Times Leader staff writer, may be reached at 831-7333.

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Barr backs possible extension of formal appeals

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