Property Reassessment

January 29, 2009

New group plans to file reassess suit

By Jennifer Learn-Andes jandes@timesleader.com
Luzerne County Reporter
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Hanover Township property owner Vic Kopko has formed a new organization – the Luzerne County Taxpayer Rights Association – to raise money to challenge the county’s reassessment.

Kopko, a college professor, said the lawsuit seeking to throw out the reassessment will be filed soon. He will be represented by William Abraham, an attorney with Wetzel, Caverly, Shea, Phillips & Rodgers in Wilkes-Barre.

The nonprofit association has been registered with the Internal Revenue Service and is accepting donations for legal fees, Kopko said.

Kopko said he will provide public accounting of all receipts and expenses and will return any unused funds in a proportionate amount to all donors.

Donations and other information may be sent to the association, c/o Kopko, at 321 Countrywood Drive in Hanover Township. The zip code is 18706.

Kopko said anyone with questions or concerns may contact him at 825-5115.

The timing of the suit could create an emergency situation because municipalities and the county plan to mail tax bills based on the new assessments next month.

However, Kopko said the suit would have been filed sooner if county officials had complied with a mandate to hear all assessment appeals by Oct. 31. Kopko said he wanted to receive his county appeal board ruling before filing litigation, and his ruling wasn’t mailed until Jan. 5.

“The multiple violations in uniformity, the deliberate disregard for fairness and the lack of oversight by elected officials have brought us to this point,” Kopko said.

Kopko met with all three county commissioners as he weighed whether or not to file a suit. He said he was willing to back away from a suit if commissioners agreed to do three things: not raise taxes in future years, implement a plan to correct over- and under-valued properties, and aggressively fight to replace property tax with earned income and/or sales tax.

Kopko said he was pleased all three commissioners want to fight to eliminate property tax, but he received no guarantees on the other two conditions.

County officials say Kopko may be required to post a multimillion-dollar bond in the amount of the project in case he loses in court, but Kopko said his lawyer does not believe a bond will be required.

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