Property Reassessment

County reassessment

November 13, 2008

Owners: Appraisals overlooked

Certified appraisals largely ignored in county assessment appeal board rulings, property owners say.

By Jennifer Learn-Andes jandes@timesleader.com
Luzerne County Reporter
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Several property owners attended Wednesday’s Luzerne County commissioners’ meeting to express concerns about the reassessment, including their belief that certified appraisals carried little weight in county assessment appeal board rulings.

Thomas Reddy said he obtained a 19-page appraisal that valued his Jackson Township property at around $551,400, or $250,000 less than the reassessment company’s value of $801,400.

The county assessment appeals board granted Reddya a $30,700 reduction.

Reddy said he found 20 other similar properties in his development that were built around the same time on similarly sized lots, and they received appeal board reductions averaging about $250,000.

“That says to me that there’s something wrong,” he said.

Reddy said he will challenge his ruling to county court but fears his challenge will drag out now that the courts have added a mandatory mediation step in addition to an arbitration panel and special master. He estimated he will pay $2,500 too much in taxes.

“That means it’s $2,500 a year I’m going to have to pay while I’m trying to resolve this problem. That really bothers me a lot,” he said.

Reddy predicts some property owners will give up challenges because of the complicated process that must be followed, including obtaining time-stamped copies of a petition that must be mailed to multiple entities.

“I’m an owner of a business so I can do this kind of stuff, but most people don’t have the time. It’s very, very frustrating, and you’re going to have people saying, “I just can’t deal with this anymore,’”

Court officials say the mediation step was added, in large part due to a request from the county assessment appeals board, to reduce the number of challenges that advance to arbitration. The mediator, specialty courts director Sam Guesto, says he will perform that duty as part of his job at no additional cost. The county must foot most of the bill for the arbitration panel, and each of the three lawyers is paid $125 per case.

Walter Cepukaitis told commissioners his certified appraisal valued his Harveys Lake property at $287,000.

The county appeals board agreed to lower the value from $560,200 to $426,300, but Cepukaitis said that’s still $139,300 above the appraisal. He said he couldn’t sell the property for $426,300 because the driveway is repeatedly washed out by water runoff and more than 50 stairs must be climbed to access the front door.

“I don’t know how they came up with this here,” he said. “If you could sell my house at $426,000, I’ll take it today.”

Tim Barr, of reassessment company 21st Century Appraisals Inc., has said appraisals are only one opinion of value.

Clerk of Courts Bob Reilly told commissioners he’s been privately surveying property owners who recently received their appeal board rulings and found several have been adjusted to $20,000 more than the appraisal values.

“It just seems like a magic number,” he said.

Harveys Lake property owner Michelle Boice said appeal board rulings shouldn’t significantly deviate from appraisals.

“Licensed appraisers will not jeopardize their licenses by pulling a number out of thin air. They must use predetermined guidelines, and that includes comparable sales to establish the value,” she said.

Boice said she found a property on Pioneer Avenue in Kingston Township that recently sold for more than $600,000, but 21st Century valued it at $335,000.

“You just want to shove reassessment through without any consideration for the consequences because you’ve dug yourself into a $30 million deficit, and you’ve got to get out of it,” Boice told the commissioners.

Property owner Audrey Simpson questioned Guesto’s role as mediator.

“What does he know about anything?”

Wilkes-Barre property owner Walter Griffith questioned the legality of adding steps to the court challenge process, and noted Guesto is not on his “fan list.”

Other business

In other business, commissioners voted to:

• Loan $150,000 from a business development loan program to Acumark Inc. to help finance a $300,000 expansion of the company’s digital production area.

• Accept the resignation of Harry Hamilton, who was recently hired as human services contract manager.

• Terminate Frank DeSanto, the transportation department’s administration manager.

• Ratify a two-day suspension of Election Bureau Director Leonard Piazza from October. Commissioner Greg Skrepenak voted against that motion.

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