Property Reassessment

May 27, 2009

Mericle’s home gets higher assessment rate

New information on finished basement, age brings a county re-evaluation of property.

By Jennifer Learn-Andes jandes@timesleader.com
Luzerne County Reporter
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Luzerne County has increased the assessment of a Wilkes-Barre home owned by developer Robert Mericle in response to last month’s discovery that the finished basement wasn’t factored into the value, county records show.

The Marjorie Avenue property is now valued at $281,600 – a $46,600 increase from the assessment that had been granted during a September 2008 informal review.

The increase also stems from a correction of the structure’s age from 1974 to 1981 – the year the home was built by previous owner and former county judge Mark Ciavarella and his wife, Cindy, the assessor’s office said.

The age category plays a significant role in assessments, and the 1974 error had caused the property to be lumped into a lower-valued category, rather than one covering homes built from 1975 to 1990.

A notice of the increase was mailed Tuesday, and Mericle will have 40 days to appeal, according to the assessor’s office.

Kimberly Borland, Mericle’s attorney, said his client will review the assessment and has no comment at this time.

Minority Commissioner Stephen A. Urban said he’s pleased the errors were corrected by the assessor’s office, though he said the cause of those errors will likely remain a mystery because the county does not have audio recordings of informal reviews.

Reassessment company representative Tim Barr, of 21st Century Appraisals Inc., said last month that the computerized notes from the informal review indicated the value was reduced in large part because Mericle had argued the house was built in 1974. 21st Century originally estimated the home was built around 1985.

Borland has said his client never cited a 1974 construction date.

Barr also said the notes indicate that Mericle did not disclose the basement was finished, even though the property’s online, for-sale listing says the house has a 783-square-foot finished basement.

Borland has said Mericle did not misstate the facts, and he pointed to Mericle’s formal assessment appeal application filed with the county, which stated there was a basement in the home. The application doesn’t ask whether the basement is finished.

The formal appeal did not take place because Mericle accepted the informal review value.

Borland said Mericle never suggested the $235,200 assessment that 21st Century and the county ultimately approved for the property at the informal review. Mericle’s only comment was that the original assessment of $410,300 was “too high,” Borland said.

Mericle is trying to sell the property for $379,000, and Borland said he had received no offers in the 15-month period it was on the market.

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