Property Reassessment

September 27, 2008

Reassessment price exceeds $9M when all expenses tallied

Reassessment firm being paid $8M and $978,000 more already spent.

By Jennifer Learn-Andes jandes@timesleader.com
Luzerne County Reporter
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The figure $8 million is often cited as the cost of Luzerne County’s reassessment because that’s the amount being paid to the reassessment company, but records and interviews reveal the price tag has already climbed more than $1 million higher.

Roughly $300,000 has been budgeted this year for additional reassessment-related staffing and temporary appeals board members, according to the assessor’s office.

Most of the other expenses – supplies, rented copiers, office space – are funded through bonds. A review of bond records shows $978,000 has been spent on items labeled as part of the reassessment since 2004.

Examples include $18,000 for printing, forms and envelopes; $297,000 to rent office space; $60,000 to create partitions and work stations in the Hazleton and Plains Township centers, and $276,600 to an independent consultant overseeing reassessment.

County Commissioners Maryanne Petrilla and Stephen A. Urban have cited the financial investment as one reason they won’t halt the project without giving appeals boards and the reassessment company the opportunity to finish their work.

If the new values aren’t used for 2009 taxes, the county would have to toss out the existing values and pay someone to help compile and reissue new values next year. Work done on this year’s formal appeals would be out the door, with the exception of corrections on acreage and basic property descriptions.

County officials estimate that repeating the reassessment process will cost millions.

Commissioner Greg Skrepenak, who supports an indefinite cancellation of reassessment, said he won’t allow the amount of money spent to sway him. He said the county has spent millions of dollars planning projects and initiatives that may not materialize, including a new prison.

Additional expenses for reassessment are expected when property owners challenge appeal board rulings to court.

County judges have changed the rules by implementing additional steps for property owners who want to challenge their formal assessment appeals in court.

Rather than appearing before a judge, they must undergo a hearing before an arbitration panel and then, if still dissatisfied, a special master.

County Prothonotary Jill Moran, who handles arbitration panels, said the county may have to come up with hundreds of thousands of dollars to pay for arbitrators, postage, file folders and possibly temporary staff to handle the influx.

County Assessment Director Tony Alu estimates 2,000 county appeal board rulings will be challenged at the county court level. Others have predicted between several hundred and 5,000.

Court administration oversees the master phase of challenges, said Sam Guesto, specialty courts/alternative sentencing director. Special masters must be attorneys and may be paid $39,900 to $54,500, Guest said, noting the typical pay is $41,900. A court reporter must be assigned to each master.

Guesto said he won’t know how many masters must be hired until he knows how many appeals are filed to court.

The county must pay reassessment company 21st Century Appraisals Inc., to provide appraisals and legal counsel at Court of Common Pleas challenges, according to contract. The contract was approved before the court recently added the arbitration and special master steps, but 21st Century representative Tim Barr said his company must provide the appraisal and legal counsel for both because the steps are part of the court challenge process.

21st Century’s fee is $150 per hour for appraisal services and $250 per hour for legal counsel. That means the county’s cost could be $800,000 or more at the arbitration level -- if 2,000 court challenges are filed.

Barr said that calculation is “misleading” because a full billable hour may not be required for each challenge.

Meeting scheduled

The CAPTaxes organization will hold a meeting to discuss property tax elimination at 7 p.m. Oct. 1 in the Plymouth Borough Building, Shawnee Avenue, Plymouth.

Any Luzerne County residents who are interested in pushing for property tax reform legislation are urged to attend.

Anyone with questions may call Grace Griffin, at 779-4179 or Dorothy Spencer at 779-1253.

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