Judge orders Allegheny County to begin full property reassessment by 2027

The reassessment of the county’s 500,000plus properties must be completed by 2032.

By PAULA REED WARD
TribLive

In a decision that will affect more than a half-million property owners, a judge on Monday ordered Allegheny County to conduct a full property reassessment by 2032.

It marks the most significant update of the system in more than a decade, but fails to take the additional step of mandating a regular cycle of future reassessments.

The order by Senior Armstrong County Common Pleas Judge Kenneth Valasek requires the reassessment to begin by 2027.

It will replace 2012 base values and attempt to provide consistency for a system long criticized for being antiquated and unfair.

County Executive Sara Innamorato said she will comply with the court’s order, which will have far-reaching impacts for owners of the county’s 585,000 properties, nearly 95% of which are taxable, according to Abigail Gardner, the county’s spokeswoman.

The ruling settles a lawsuit by a Churchill homeowner, Flavia Laun, who objected to the assessment of her home.

“It was a lot of hard work, and the waiting was painful,” Laun told Trib-Live Monday. But, she continued, “when the opportunity arose, I wanted to be that trigger point in initiating something bigger.”

Weiss Burkardt Kramer LLC, the attorneys who represented Laun, said the decision will benefit thousands of property owners, school districts, municipalities and their taxpayers “who have endured years of refunds to large commercial property owners who have exploited this system, which has now been declared unconstitutional.”

In a statement announcing Valasek’s ruling, the county said the judge ordered reassessments to be conducted every five years. That was not correct.

Laun’s lawyers proposed that time schedule as part of the judge’s ruling to settle her case, but Valasek never signed off on that suggestion.

Gardner said the county supports the idea of regular reassessments.

“Based on this litigation, the county agreed to regular reassessments in principle,” Gardner said. “(County) Council is actively considering legislation to require regular reassessments, and the Government Review Commission further recommended regular reassessments.”

Pennsylvania is the only state in the country that does not require regular property reassessments, which has sent property values and taxes out of whack.

“In an ideal world, Pennsylvania would join other states and require regular reassessments statewide, rather than leaving individual counties to navigate this issue on their own,” Innamorato said.

Within the commonwealth, counties are all over the map when it comes to reassessments. Beaver County completed a court-ordered reassessment in 2023 after more than 40 years; Westmoreland and Butler counties haven’t reassessed in decades.

In the statement announcing the judge’s ruling, Innamorato made sure to note the importance of seeking revenue from the county’s major nonprofits, which enjoy tax breaks because of their charitable status.

“Allegheny County’s largest nonprofits should pay their fair share, and counties should have access to alternative revenue options that ensure those who have benefited most from our region’s growth fairly contribute to the services and infrastructure that make that growth possible.”

Pittsburgh Mayor Corey O’Connor has so far secured about $70 million in contributions by nonprofits, including $55 million from UPMC and Highmark.

Innamorato, who declined a TribLive interview request, said regular countywide assessments will be an improvement on the current ad hoc approach.

‘Dissatisfaction, frustration and anger’

Laun lived in Pittsburgh for many years, working as a computer programming analyst for the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine before moving to Colorado in 2007.

When she decided to move back to Pittsburgh in 2021, Laun said, she looked at more than 50 properties. She settled on one in Churchill for $225,000. She paid cash.

At the time she bought the house, it was assessed at $114,500.

However, six months later, Woodland Hills School District filed an assessment appeal, and the Board of Property Assessments and Appeals Review increased Laun’s assessment to $142,900 — significantly higher, she said, than neighboring properties whose fair market value was higher than hers.

That appeal was going to increase her tax bill by about 15%, she said.

By that point, though, Laun said, she had retired and was living on a fixed income.

“‘If my taxes go up every single year, what am I going to do? I can’t move again,’ ” she recalled thinking. “I, actually, really panicked.”

When she lived in Colorado, Laun said, the law required reassessments every three years.

“I never had sticker shock in Colorado,” she said. “They were a lot more transparent. When I came to Pittsburgh, I was totally in the dark.”