Allegheny County could be on a collision course with a countywide property reassessment, and experts at a Wednesday public hearing encouraged the county to take that step.

Several public school districts across Allegheny County have voiced support of a countywide reassessment, and Pittsburgh Public School district has actually sued to force the county to trigger a reassessment.

On Wednesday, nine Allegheny County Council members hosted a public hearing to gather input on what a reassessment might entail.

Wayde Fargotstein, chair of the county’s Property Assessment Appeals and Review Board, said the county’s common level ratio is causing school districts to lose revenue, particularly because of declining property values in Downtown Pittsburgh and other commercial districts in the suburbs.

“I absolutely believe that there should be a reassessment,” Fargotstein said.

Allegheny County lost $1.4 billion in commercial, residential and agricultural property value after appeals of assessments in 2022 and 2023, according to data compiled by TribLive from the Western Pennsylvania Regional Data Center.

He said the current system causes confusion among property owners in the county. Fargotstein also said real estate agents should do a better job of explaining that property taxes will likely increase for new homeowners because school districts often appeal new properties to ensure they are accurately assessed.

Pennsylvania counties use the common level ratio to value properties for tax purposes after assessment appeals.

Allegheny County hasn’t reassessed since 2012, meaning that properties are taxed at that 12-year-old value — unless an appeal sets the property at a new fair market value, or the price at which it might change hands today. That price might be higher or lower than the 2012 value.

The county’s current common level ratio is 54.5%. So a property that wins an appeal will have its assessment for tax purposes adjusted to almost half of its new fair market value.

For example, take a homeowner who wins an assessment appeal. The appeals board agrees that the property is worth only $100,000 on the open market. The owner’s new tax bill won’t be based on $100,000. Rather the value for tax purposes will be set at $54,500 — or 54.5% of the new fair market value.

About 20 members of the public attended the over three-hour hearing, which functioned more as an information session for council members than a forum.

Several council members asked property assessment experts questions to feel out their support or opposition to a countywide reassessment. Democratic County Councilmember at-large Bethany Hallam introduced a bill last month seeking to move Allegheny County to regular reassessments, triggered anytime the common level ratio dips below 85%.

Fargotstein said he supports moving to regular reassessments, instead of waiting on litigation from school districts or property owners to force reassessments, which is the typical process in Southwestern Pennsylvania.

The Dallas-based Tyler Technologies was contracted to complete Allegheny County’s last reassessment in 2012.

Paul Miller, of Tyler Technologies, said a countywide reassessment would reestablish equity to the county’s taxing system.

He noted that the state’s windfall provisions would mean a reassessment would not bring in extra revenue for the county, and would instead bring some tax bills up and lower others.

“Reassessment should be part of statistical analysis, not at the whims of how aggressive a school district or a property owner is at seeking appeals,” Miller said.

He encouraged regularly reassessing on a calendar system, like every three or five years, to help make the process more predictable and to ensure reassessments don’t occur too often or infrequent.

Miller claimed regular reassessments can also lower governmental costs.

When reassessments are done infrequently, contractors often have to spend a lot of time compiling data, which can cost counties millions.

Lackawanna County, home to Scranton, is currently in the process of completing a reassessment. The Northeastern Pennsylvania county has not reassessed since 1968, and had to input data from boxes of paper cards, said Lackawanna County Assessment Office director Patrick Tobin at the hearing.

Republican Allegheny County Councilmember at-large Sam DeMarco shared some concerns that a reassessment would lead to seniors who live in booming neighborhoods, like Pittsburgh’s Lawrenceville, being priced out of their homes due to increased property assessments.

“If we were to do an entire reassessment, in many of these cases we would be going to seniors on fixed incomes, and taxing them on unrealized capital gains,” DeMarco said.

Council President Pat Catena, D-Carnegie, said there are provisions the county can use, like the Homestead Exemption, to ensure that longtime homeowners and seniors are not hit with big tax increases that would push them out of their homes.

He was pleased with the hearing and said “having this base of information could be valuable as we move forward.”

Hallam said, ideally, she would love to see the state Legislature act to force all counties throughout the state to reassess regularly.

Pennsylvania is the only state that does not regularly reassess its properties.

Absent of that, Hallam said Allegheny County needs to reassess its properties to ensure funding for school districts is stable and that the system is fair.

“We would love to see the state act, but it does not seem like that is going to happen,” she said. “We have waited way too long. The school districts are screwed; we must act.”

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