Property Reassessment

September 3, 2008

Assessment to drop by $37 million

Reassessment company had Buck Township tract of 373 acres incorrectly coded as commercial; it is zoned conservation land.

By Jennifer Learn-Andes jandes@timesleader.com
Luzerne County Reporter
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A $37 million assessment reduction will likely be made on a vacant tract in Buck Township because it was incorrectly coded as commercial instead of conservation land, Luzerne County’s reassessment company said Tuesday.

The 373-acre property along Route 115 owned by Pocono Holiday Resorts recently appeared in the reassessment company’s top-10 list of highest valued commercial properties in Luzerne County.

21st Century Appraisals Inc., the county’s reassessment company, has learned that the parcel is zoned conservation, prompting the company to adjust the value from $37.4 million to $410,000, company representative Tim Barr said.

Barr said his company mistakenly coded the land as commercial in 2006, and the owners never returned a data verification mailer seeking a correction. He did not know why the error was originally made.

Township Zoning Officer Frank Jones said several investors own the land, and they are trying to sell it. Land zoned conservation may be subdivided for development with township approval, but the township may permit only one structure for every 5 acres, he said.

A fire tower is the only structure on the heavily wooded land, Jones said.

Township officials immediately detected a problem with the $37.4 million value when they received the proposed new assessments from the county, said township Supervisor Ernie Searfoss.

“We noticed that right off the bat,” Searfoss said.

Township supervisors had planned to appeal the value if it wasn’t corrected on the amended list of values that will be sent to all schools and municipalities, Searfoss said.

“I couldn’t, as a public official, leave that go and tax it at that amount because it’s not right,” Searfoss said. “I don’t know how they made such a mistake.”

Searfoss said properties throughout the county will have to absorb the loss of revenue from the reduction. The single error made it appear that the assessed values in Buck Township had increased 108 percent through reassessment, ranking the municipality second only to Harveys Lake for increases, he said.

The $37 million error and other questionable values in Buck Township prompted supervisors to send one of the first reassessment complaint letters to commissioners, he said.

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