Property Reassessment

County reassessment

October 2, 2008

Lake sites see huge reduction

Four Harveys Lake properties have a combined assessment reduction of more than $1.8 million.

By Jennifer Learn-Andes jandes@timesleader.com
Luzerne County Reporter
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Four Harveys Lake property owners have received more than a combined $1.8 million in assessment reductions as part of Luzerne County’s recent mailing of 3,193 revised notices.

County officials say the adjustments are evidence the reassessment correction process is working, but three of the impacted property owners say the original values never should have been issued in the first place.

“I just think it was a sloppy job. I think it could’ve been done a lot better,” said Homer Baker, whose assessment went from $578,200 to $82,000 because he had been assessed for a house and borough ambulance garage that are not on his vacant parcel.

“I’m pleased with the value, but I’m not pleased with the county,” said Frank Wright. His assessment went from $577,100 to $127,100, mainly because his property had been lumped in a pricier waterfront district.

“I went through a lot of stress and only slept a full night about once a week since I got the first notice. Now I’m whistling and singing again,” Wright said.

“These mistakes were ridiculous,” said Michelle Boice, the third property owner. “I can’t believe they paid $9 million and counting for this slop.” Her value went from $607,000 to $177,000, in large part because her property had been incorrectly tagged as waterfront.

Boice said another property owner, Carlene McCaffrey, has received a reduction from $584,100 to $151,200. Boice said McCaffrey wrote a letter to county officials asking to be reimbursed $350 for an appraisal because she would not have obtained the appraisal if she had been informed during her informal review that further revisions may be coming. McCaffrey could not be reached for comment. The revisions stemmed from the reassessment company’s review of new information on some properties in the borough.

Tim Barr, of reassessment company 21st Century Appraisals Inc., said property description errors are expected, especially in a reassessment done from scratch after 43 years. Many of the changes stemmed from deeded acreage measurements that had to be corrected in county mapping records, based on information brought forward by property owners, he said.

Boice, Baker and Wright have submitted information on their reassessment experiences to be used in a reassessment opposition lawsuit planned by the Residents of Luzerne County United organization.

Philadelphia area attorney Sam Stretton, who is handling the suit, said Wednesday that he plans to file legal action by the end of next week or early the following week.

Of the 3,193 revised values, roughly 1,800 went down, 1,200 went up and 200 remained about the same, Barr said.

Barr said he did not run a report on the net reduction of assessment that resulted from these revisions. The mailing batch included a $37 million reduction caused by a zoning misclassification of a property in Bear Creek Township.

Boice has been publicly predicting that the future property tax notices initially sent to property owners will end up being higher because of the quantity of assessment reductions.

Barr continues to maintain that the tax projections will be accurate or even lower than originally estimated. He said net reductions would have to amount to more than $4 billion countywide to jeopardize the accuracy of the tax projections, and he is confident the county won’t come close to that cut-off.

Property owners Ed and Joan Kelly said values on their properties were also changed in the new batch of revisions, but they found numerous errors that must be corrected.

The Kellys have a December 2007 certified appraisal saying that their ranch home on 0.67 acre in Harveys Lake is worth $149,000, but their new assessed value was nearly four times that, or $572,800.

Joan Kelly said the value of that parcel was lowered to $184,100 in the latest set of notices, but the house was apparently switched to a different parcel they own and valued with that parcel.

“Everything was all wrong, so we had to fill out another rejection, and they said they’ll send someone out to check the properties,” Joan Kelly said.

Formal appeal update

Luzerne County appeals boards have heard or scheduled 13,600 formal assessment appeals to date, according to Tim Barr of 21st Century Appraisals Inc.

Roughly 18,500 appeals have been filed.

Barr said appeals boards are hearing roughly 1,650 appeals per week at both the Hazleton and Plains Township reassessment centers.

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

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