Property Reassessment

March 14, 2009

Man to challenge total reassessment

Hanover Twp. property owner files court papers seeking data on all appeals.

By Jennifer Learn-Andes jandes@timesleader.com
Luzerne County Reporter
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Hanover Township property owner Victor Kopko filed court papers Friday to start evidence discovery in his plan to legally challenge Luzerne County’s reassessment.

“This is the first legal step in the process of getting Luzerne County’s illegal reassessment thrown out,” said Kopko, an adjunct college professor with a doctorate in business administration and management.

County Assessment Appeals Board Solicitor David Schwager filed a court brief opposing the discovery.

Specifically, Kopko and his wife, Diane, are seeking the dates and times that all county assessment appeals were filed, heard and decided. They argued through Attorney William I. Abraham that the information is necessary to determine whether all decisions were rendered on or before the last day of October “as required” by state law.

Reassessment critics have questioned the legality of missing the Oct. 31 deadline, but the Kopkos are the first to raise the issue in court paperwork.

County officials have maintained that their interpretation of the law allowed appeals to continue beyond Oct. 31, as long as the appeals wrapped up before 2009 tax bills were issued.

In his opposition brief, Schwager cites a section of the law that says appeal boards “shall continue” to meet to hear appeals “from time to time until all appeals have been heard and acted upon.”

“One could interpret these provisions as allowing the board to proceed to hear cases and issue decisions until the job is done,” Schwager wrote.

Schwager and Abraham appeared before Judge Thomas F. Burke around 8:30 a.m. Friday morning to discuss the discovery request. A hearing on the matter was scheduled for 9:30 a.m. on May 11.

The Kopkos say they have a right to perform discovery as part of their Feb. 4 court challenge contesting their county assessment appeal board ruling. Their brief says the discovery is necessary to prove their assessment is “unlawful and that it violates the Uniformity Clause of the Pennsylvania Constitution.”

But Schwager argues in his brief that “there is no clear right to discovery in tax assessment appeals.”

He said also disputed the Kopkos’ use of the word “limited” in the discovery request.

“The motion is, in fact, quite broad. It seems to request information regarding each and every one of the roughly 20,000 tax assessment appeals filed with the board during the reassessment process,” Schwager wrote.

The board argues that the requested information is also “irrelevant” to the court’s determination of the Kopkos’ tax assessment appeal.

Vic Kopko started exploring the possibility of a suit when his two-story, four-bedroom house on 0.81 acre along Countrywood Drive was valued at $392,300 by reassessment company 21st Century Appraisals Inc.

The value was reduced to $333,700 after an informal review.

He had to wait until Nov. 5 to obtain a formal county assessment appeal hearing, and he was notified on Jan. 5 that his value had been reduced to $285,200. Kopko said the value is still higher than his certified appraisal.

Kopko has formed the Luzerne County Taxpayer Rights Association to raise money to challenge the county’s reassessment and has invested his own funds in the planned suit. He said anyone interested in participating may contact him at 825-5115.

It’s unclear what would happen if the reassessment was stopped because the county and municipalities have already mailed tax bills based on the new assessments.

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

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