Property Reassessment

By Jennifer Learn-Andes jandes@timesleader.com
Luzerne County Reporter
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Around 95 Luzerne County property owners received formal assessment appeal hearings Thursday on values that were set as part of the reassessment.

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Real estate appraiser Alan Rosen represented several clients contesting their reassessment during assessment assessment appeals Thursday morning at the Luzerne County Courthouse.

Clark Van Orden/The Times Leader

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Susan Webergoes over her assessment with Andy Shiner during the Luzerne County Board of Assessment Appeals meetings Thursday at the Luzerne County Courthouse.

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The appeal hearings were continued into this year because the county couldn’t squeeze them into last year’s schedule or because the property owners didn’t receive their values until January.

Any assessment reductions granted will apply to 2009 taxes. In comparison, property owners who file fresh appeals this year will receive rulings in 2009 but be forced to wait until 2010 for lower values to take effect.

Property owner George Spohrer was among those who appeared for hearings on Thursday.

The reassessment company originally valued his Dallas condo at $159,800. Spohrer received a revised notice Nov. 6 increasing the value to $201,900.

“This revision makes no sense at all,” Spohrer told board member Angelo Terrana on Thursday.

Spohrer’s attorney, Harry Hiscox, presented an appraisal saying the property is worth $154,000. Hiscox also submitted case law arguing that the county had no right to send a revised notice.

“You have no authority to come back and take a second bite at the apple,” Hiscox said.

Appraiser Alan Rosen appeared with an attorney on behalf of a property owner who owns the former “Kehoe mansion” in Exeter Township.

Property owners Christine and Bounpheng Bouamalay of California did not receive an assessment until Nov. 6, when the county valued the prominent brick mansion and 12.78 acres along state Route 92 at $954,800.

The Bouamalays paid $980,000 for the property in June 2008. Reassessment company representative Tim Barr, of 21st Century Appraisals Inc., said valuation of the property was delayed because the property was subdivided when it was purchased. Barr was not asked to appear at the appeals.

Rosen’s appraisal valued the property at $701,000, and he presented pictures showing the need for extensive interior repairs. Rosen estimated it will cost about $1 million to repair and renovate the interior.

The three-story, 9,200-square-foot home was built in 1925 by coal baron and political leader John C. Kehoe.

The county’s assessment appeals board plans to send decision orders to the 95 property owners within a month. The property owners who obtain reductions will receive refunds if they overpaid 2009 county and municipal taxes based on the contested assessments.