Parcels’ tax rates detailed

Like a jigsaw puzzle, Luzerne County is cut into 166,014 parcels of varying types.

The county’s newly released tax base certification sheds light on the role these pieces will play in 2009 property taxes.

For starters, the total assessment of all these properties combined is nearly $23.1 billion.

The 157,344 taxable properties total $20.3 billion, while the 8,670 exempt parcels total $2.8 billion.

The taxable group includes 438 mineral reserves such as sandstone, gravel and coal, which may or may not be actively mined at this time. These minerals have been valued at a total $15.3 million.

Properties in Clean and Green, Keystone Opportunity Zones and other tax-break programs are also lumped into the taxable category, though the certification report only tracked statistics on the Clean and Green land preservation program.

A total 3,128 properties are now enrolled in Clean and Green, compared to the total 185 in the program before reassessment.

A whopping $302.7 million in assessed value was knocked off participating Clean and Green properties so they would be valued for their worth as agriculture, woods, pasture or open space, as opposed to what they’d fetch for real estate development.

Clean and Green participants are saving an estimated $4.4 million in school, county and local taxes combined, said reassessment company representative Tim Barr, of 21st Century Appraisals Inc., which helped the county prepare the certification report.

Barr came up with that figure by multiplying the $302.7 million by the estimated average school/county/local combined millage rate of 14.503, and then dividing by 1,000. A mill is a $1 tax on every $1,000 of assessed property value.

Taxing bodies won’t feel the impact because this loss in assessment has already been factored into next year’s estimated millage rates, Barr said.

All or some of the money saved through the tax break must be repaid if property owners decide to sell the land for development. That way, property owners can’t enjoy the break and then suddenly sell the land for housing developments.

The 8,670 properties identified as exempt fall into four categories, according to the certification report:

• Government, church, college/university and other property deemed tax-exempt by the county Board of Assessment Appeals. This makes up most of the exempt category, with 6,863 properties valued at $2.7 billion.

• Properties held by the county for failure to pay back taxes. There are 1,376 properties valued at $10.2 million in this group. These properties will switch back into the taxable category if and when they are sold.

• Utility properties that make payments in lieu of taxes. A total 383 properties valued at $74.4 million are in this category.

• Public utility properties owned by government municipal authorities, such as sewage treatment infrastructure. This is the smallest group, with 48 properties valued at $3.1 million.

The certification report was based on a Nov. 15 snapshot reading of the tax base. Figures may change in coming weeks as county assessment appeal boards rule on thousands of requests for reassessment-related assessment reductions.

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Property Reassessment

All properties’ assessment is $23.1B, $20.3B taxable. Exemptions, breaks noted.

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