News

June 18, 2008

Southern county area to get new values

Reassessment mailings for another 21,685 properties to be sent out today.

By Jennifer Learn-Andes jandes@timesleader.com
Luzerne County Reporter
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A schedule has been set to mail the final batches of new assessed values before the July 1 deadline.

Set for mailing today are 21,685 residential and vacant land values in these municipalities: Hazleton city; Freeland, Conyngham, West Hazleton and White Haven boroughs; and Foster, Rice, Slocum, Sugarloaf and Wright townships.

Property owners in these municipalities should start receiving their new values on Thursday.

At least 17 municipalities will be in the next batch to be mailed next week, said Tim Barr of the reassessment company 21st Century Appraisals Inc.

That mailing will cover the boroughs of Edwardsville, Forty Fort, Luzerne, Swoyersville, West Pittston, Wyoming, Duryea, Avoca, Nescopeck, Jeddo, Penn Lake Park and Nuangola. These townships are also in this batch: Wilkes-Barre, Hollenbeck, Nescopeck, Salem and Conyngham.

That leaves these municipalities in the final batch that goes out on July 1: Pittston, Nanticoke and Wilkes-Barre; Plymouth and Newport townships; and Ashley, Warrior Run, Harveys Lake and Shickshinny boroughs.

Values for all commercial-related properties will be mailed on July 1.

That includes assessed values on business and industrial structures, mobile home parks, mixed use residential/commercial structures and properties with active mineral operations, Barr said.

About 78,000 values have been mailed to date.

Property owners with questions about the reassessment are asked to call 21st Century’s call center at 1-877-570-8801 for northern county residents and 1-877-570-8802 for southern county residents.

21st Century has received 5,900 calls to date, Barr said.

As of June 12, the company has scheduled 3,154 informal reviews – 2,451 at the Plains Township reassessment center and 703 in the Hazleton center, according to Barr.

Roughly 2,150 informal reviews have been held to date, he said.

Of that, 8 percent of property owners received an increase, 37 percent had no change, and 55 percent received a reduction, Barr said.

Property owners may view a range of information about their properties and others by logging onto 21st Century’s database at www.courthouseonline.com. The control number and password contained on the new notices must be entered to access the site.

Roughly 14,190 property owners have accessed the site since May 23, Barr said. Those property owners logged in 42,412 times.

Formal appeals

About 350 Luzerne County property owners have filed formal assessment appeals to date, according to the county assessor’s office.

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

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