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Motion of the Council of Allegheny County pulling Bill No. 5205-09, amending and conforming Article 210 of the Administrative Code entitled "Assessment Standards and Practices" to: comply with the Pennsylvania Supreme Court's decision in Clifton, et al. v. Allegheny County and Pierce, et al. v. Allegheny County by providing a methodology to equalize base year values through periodic, computer assisted, countywide reassessments; phase-in increases to property assessments so as to protect property owners from the undue financial burden of such increases; and to preclude the County and local taxing bodies from obtaining "windfall" property tax revenues as a result of any adjustments to the base year system, from committee for an immediate final vote.
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WHEREAS, Bill No. 5205-09 was introduced and referred to the Committee on Government Reform on November 4, 2009, or 27 days prior to the introduction of this motion; and
WHEREAS, Bill No. 5205-09 has not been placed on the Committee's agenda for discussion since the bill was introduced; and
WHEREAS, on November 10, 2009, the Honorable R. Stanton Wettick issued an opinion and order in Clifton, et;. al. v. Allegheny County, GD-05-028355, setting a timetable for County reassessments to take place over four years; and
WHEREAS, on page 24 of Judge Wettick's opinion, he explicitly states that, "[i]f the County would, in the near future, come to this court with a detailed plan under which each property within the County would be reassessed for use in 2012, I would replace the Four-District Reassessment Plan with the County's comprehensive reassessment plan"; and
WHEREAS, on November 24, 2009, Judge Wettick vacated the statutory automatic supersedeas that had been created as a result of the County's appeal of his November 10 decision, noting on page five of his opinion that "Allegheny County cannot claim that there is a better reassessment plan unless it comes forward with such a plan;" and
WHEREAS, the Rules of Allegheny County Council, Article IV, Section B., allows for bills to be pulled from committee by the vote of a two-thirds majority if such motion is made less than sixty (60) days from the date of the first reading of the bill;
NOW THEREFORE, IT IS MOVED, BY THE COUNCIL OF ALLEGHENY COUNTY,
That this Council hereby pulls Bill No. 5205-09 from the Committee on Government Reform and authorizes an immediate final vote on the bill.
PRIMARY SPONSOR: COUNCIL MEMBER McCULLOUGH