Property Reassessment

February 25, 2009

Handling of assessment challenges under review

By Jennifer Learn-Andes jandes@timesleader.com
Luzerne County Reporter
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Luzerne County judges did not reach an agreement Tuesday on potential changes to the handling of court-level property assessment challenges.

Judge Joseph Augello will review the matter and recommend adjustments for consideration.

Revisions are being discussed because of the change in court leadership and a push to eliminate some of the three steps added by former president judge Mark Ciavarella.

Instead of appearing before a judge, property owners contesting their county assessment appeal board rulings must undergo mediation.

If that doesn’t work, property owners may appear before an arbitration panel of three lawyers and then a special master.

About 2,000 property owners have filed court challenges. As of Monday afternoon, 171 mediation property owners had reached settlements with county appeals board solicitor David Schwager. No non-settlements have been filed.

Roughly 240 Harveys Lake property owners have presented a petition urging new President Judge Chester Muroski to do away with the mediation and arbitration stages and allow property owners to go straight to a special master.

Schwager has proposed a different undisclosed plan. Schwager does not want to eliminate mediation, because it’s already under way and yielding results.

Anticipating a decision Tuesday, Harveys Lake property owner Michelle Boice faxed a letter to Muroski urging him to do more research before deciding whether to keep mediation.

She says the mediation level is “seriously flawed.”

Boice said Muroski called her on Tuesday morning and indicated that it might not be possible to stop mediation midstream.

She said she expressed concerns about the court’s plan to process mediations more quickly by reducing mediation conferences from an hour to 30 minutes. She doesn’t think that leaves enough time to present evidence.

Boice said she wholeheartedly supports increased processing of the mediations because the current pace pushes the completion of mediation to late summer or fall 2010.

Property owners must pay their taxes based on the contested values until they receive mediation settlements.

She said she asked Muroski to consider adding temporary staff to process more mediation cases, but Muroski said he can’t hire more employees under the county’s hiring freeze.

Boice plans to see if local Realtors would be interested in volunteering to process mediations without pay, though it’s unclear if the judges would agree to that.

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

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