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Allegheny County property owners who won appeals on their 2001 assessments can pay their county taxes at that lower value while the county conducts an expedited review of their property's characteristics and comparables, county Executive Jim Roddey said Monday.

The process applies to as many as 29,500 property owners who won a reduction through the appeals in 2001. Nearly 45,000 appeals were decided last year, while roughly 35,000 owners still are waiting for their cases to be settled. The change also only affects county property taxes, leaving individual municipalities and school districts to decide whether to go along with the change or not, Roddey said.

"It is my responsibility to ensure (the assessment process) is fixed," he said. "We do recognize there is a problem and we will fix the problem."

Roddey's announcement came hours after two Democrats — county Controller Dan Onorato and city Controller Tom Flaherty — separately held news conferences in which they blasted the Roddey administration for inequities in the 2002 reassessment.

Roddey has said he does not support freezing property assessments at 2001 levels, although he said last week that "it would appear that there need to be some adjustments." Last week the county council voted to file a petition with Common Pleas Judge Stanton Wettick asking him to freeze the property values at 2001 levels. As of yesterday, nothing had been filed.

How to file an appeal

Property appeal forms are available at: The County Office Building, 542 Forbes Ave., Downtown, at the information desk in the lobby Allegheny County Information Center, at the county courthouse, 436 Grant St., Downtown All county-sponsored libraries Local municipal offices At the county Web site, www.county.allegheny.pa.us. Forms can be downloaded and printed. The deadline for filing appeals is April 1, 2002. Hearings are scheduled on a first-come, first-serve basis. People should be prepared to bring evidence to show why their property value should be reduced. For more information, call the Office of Property Assessments at (412) 350-4600.

The county plans to contact by mail every property owner who won a reduction on a 2001 appeal, asking them to review data about their property and correct inaccuracies. After those people return a form with changes about their property's characteristics, the county will put the information into a computer model and send out new valuations.

If those owners still are not satisfied with their assessments, they can apply to have a new hearing during an "expedited" appeals process, county Manager Bob Webb said. County officials said they do not know how long the process will take. However, they do plan to hire additional appeals officers, if necessary, so it can hear the second round of appeals while also holding first hearings for those people who have not yet had one.

The county has said it will complete all the 2001 appeals hearings by May 1.

Attorney Ira Weiss, who represents the Pittsburgh Public Schools and several other school districts and municipalities in the county, called Roddey's move "very frustrating." "What are we doing here? If he is telling people they don't have to pay their taxes on the 2002 numbers, then he is saying these numbers are bogus, and he also is saying they are certified. He is putting the schools of Pittsburgh and the local municipalities in an untenable position," Weiss said.

"They can try to put as much lipstick as they want on this corpse, but it is still a serious problem."

Property sales

The formula relied on 51,000 property sales in Allegheny County from Jan. 1, 1998, to June 30, 2001. It adjusted older sales to bring them up to current market value. The average comparable sale used in determining the new values is an April 1, 2001 sale. That formula also includes 200 variables for a home and 76 models to describe geography, price range, and condition. The old formula relied on sales from 1996 to the end of '99, but older sales weren't adjusted to reflect current market value. The average comparable sale was a Jan. 1, 1998 sale. Size and features Part of the formula assumes that every square foot of living area for this kind of home contributes $40.09 to the overall value. The garage adds $2,280, the fireplace $3,129. Since the home is more than 20 years old, that means any settling, which could cause damage, is already done. Therefore, the home's age actually adds $9,300 to its value. Comparisons Five homes most like each individual property will be found, and compared to the one being reassessed. The search begins in the neighborhood and expands outward until enough similar homes are found. The homes are then "adjusted" to more closely match the style, age, condition and other variables of the home being reassessed. The adjusted values are weighted, with the homes closest in description given the most influence, and averaged. And then.... At this point, there are seven values associated with the ranch home: the original estimate based on total sales, the five comparable sales and the weighted average. The two highest and the two lowest values are discarded. The remaining values in the middle are added to the original estimate of $97,143 and averaged. The result: The ranch house is assessed at $90,700 Source: Norm Mekkelsen, county Administrative Services director; Pittsburgh Tribune-Review research

Earlier in the day, Onorato called for the 2002 property assessments to be thrown out, claiming the new numbers overturned nearly all of the 2001 appeals.

Onorato urged Roddey to ask the Property Assessment Oversight Board to reconvene immediately and void the 2002 values — letting the 2001 assessments remain in effect this year while the remaining 35,000 appeals from last year are settled.

"This is legal and it is allowed. It is not a freezing of inequities in place. It is a continuation of the process for 2001 to allow the appropriate adjustments to be made though the appeals process," Onorato said. "I think it is just outrageous at this time to send out a batch of new numbers when you haven't even closed out 2001."

The change should be made within the next two weeks, before tax bills have been sent out for 2002, so the bills can be amended to reflect 2001 values, said Onorato, who has been mentioned as a possible candidate to challenge Roddey for county executive in 2003.

The oversight board is a three-member panel, with two members appointed by Roddey, a Republican, and the third picked by county council.

Without a change by the oversight board, school districts and municipalities could be obligated to tax people based on the 2002 assessments.

"I do not believe the school districts or the local governments have the option under the law to allow someone to pay their taxes on an assessment other than the one that has been certified by the county," Weiss said.

According to Onorato, 29,459 property owners won appeals during 2001 to lower their assessments. In 2002, 92 percent of those people received assessments that were either equal to or higher than the 2001 values they appealed, he said.

Onorato based the calculations on figures provided by the county's Office of Property Assessment.

In another news conference yesterday, Flaherty said an analysis by his office shows the 2002 assessments are even more inaccurate than last year's, with residents in the city's most modest homes — with sales prices below $50,000 — being overvalued nearly nine times out of 10.

Nearly 40 percent of the homes in the county and 53 percent of those in Pittsburgh were incorrect based on recent sales prices in 1999, 2000 and 2001, Flaherty said. Assessments are considered inaccurate if they are more or less than 15 percent off from the correct value.

Only the wealthiest property owners — with homes that sold for more than $250,000 — were undervalued more often than overvalued, he said.

"We're seeing the wealthy's assessments going down and the poor people's assessments going up by 9 to 1 — and that's not fair," Flaherty said. "People are going to leave this county; people are not going to rehab their homes."

A spokesman for Mayor Tom Murphy said the mayor was not available for comment since city offices were closed in observance of Martin Luther King Jr. Day.

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