Assessment Appeals — Its time Again!
Posted By Cliff Tuttle | January 22, 2009
Posted by Cliff Tuttle
If you purchased a piece of property last year for an amount less than the fair market value listed in the assessment, you ought to be thinking about filing an assessment appeal. Or if you believe that the fair market value of the property you already own is less than the assessment, consider it also. If you want to check your current assessment, click here.
Of course, assessments are a little trickier than that. Allegheny County adopted a base year of 2002 for assessments, which means that the asessment should reflect the fair market value of the property in 2002. This system, which is practiced in various forms in many Pennsylvania Counties, is presently being challenged in an appeal before the Pennsylvania Supreme Court. The Court has had the case for a while and the decision will probably be announced this year. But it almost certainly won’t effect the 2009 values.
If you want to appeal, you can obtain the form by clicking here. Print it out and fill it out by hand. Then Mail it or deliver it to the Allegheny County Board of Property Assessment Appeals and Review, Third Floor County Office Building, Pittsburgh PA 15219. The deadline is March 31.
CLT
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February 9th, 2009 @ 4:54 pm
Thank you for reminding the general population that it is time for property assessments appeals. However, they need to remove the property tax collectors already in place. These people are ruthless, deceptive and just plain unreasonable. For example, would you pay $50.00 for a reminder letter that was already made up, form letter if you will, where all they did was push “print”, place a stamp on the letter and POOF…..gouge the individual $50.00! Right now, I am looking at a “bill” sent by a local tax collecting attorney, Kratzenberg, where the actual property tax bill is $35.34 and the fees, Act 20 charges and everything else he can dream up is $276.54! TELL ME THAT IS NOT OUTRAGEOUS AND COMPLETELY UNREASONABLE!
God forbid a landowner actually gets behind in their property taxes due to illness or anything unexpected that life will surely add to an individual…..They are like buzzards, lurking in the shadows just waiting……Armed with all the power and authority the law unjustly heaps upon them. Laws that are completely unreasonable and are in place to only further the boroughs and attorneys that handle these matters.
So between these outrageous arrear property tax fees, penalties and other charges, eminent domain and the many unreasonable borough ordinances, a current day landowner has no security in owning the property, as it can be taken away at any moment. I personally have witnessed it several times with other individuals I know of.
Property tax appeals are only a drop in the bucket a landowner has to worry about in these days.