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Ordinance of the County of Allegheny, Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, amending Article 210, §§ 210.11, 210.12, and 210.19, by providing that assessment rolls be provided to taxing bodies, either free of charge or at a premium rate, based on whether the taxing body certifies to the County that it has established a revenue neutral tax rate following the most recent County reassessment and shall establish a revenue neutral tax rate for the year for which the assessment rolls are provided.
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WHEREAS, ongoing, annual assessments are important to insure that the burden of property tax is shared equitably among property owners; and
WHEREAS, current law allows taxing bodies to receive a 5% windfall allowing taxing jurisdictions to collect increased revenues simply by virtue of a reassessment; and
WHEREAS, removal of the County's 105% only addresses County taxes, but municipal and school district taxes can be addressed by providing an incentive for those taxing bodies to establish a revenue neutral tax rate following a County reassessment;
The Council of the County of Allegheny hereby enacts as follows:
SECTION 1.
Article 210, § 210.11, “Certification of Countywide Reassessment,” shall be amended as follows:
C. Notice of certification.
(1) Upon certification of the assessment rolls, the Office of Property Assessments at the direction of the Chief Assessment Officer, shall provide copies of the assessment roll for the upcoming Countywide Reassessment to each taxing body within the County for their review and use in the preparation of a budget and in the levying of property taxes for the upcoming tax year.
i. Taxing bodies that established a revenue neutral tax rate following the most recent County reassessment shall provide certification of such to the Office of Property Assessments by February 1st of the calendar year preceding the implementation of a Countywide Reassessment. Such certification shall also indicate whether the taxing body will establish a revenue neutral tax rate for the year in which the assessment rolls are provided.
ii. Taxing bodies providing such certification and applying a revenue neutral tax rate shall have copies of the assessment roll provided to them at no charge.
iii. Taxing bodies that do not provide certification or are not applying a revenue neutral tax rate shall have copies of the assessment roll provided to them at a charge of $10,000 per copy, payable to the Allegheny County Treasurer.
iv. Nothing in this section shall be construed to prohibit receiving increased tax revenue. The taxing bodies may raise the real estate tax rate pursuant to the process in the appropriate municipal or school code, but only after an appropriate reduction of the real estate tax rate is made to comply with the limitations of this section.
SECTION 2.
Article 210, § 210.12, “Certification in Non-Countywide Reassessment tax years,” shall be amended as follows:
B. Notice of certification.
(1) Upon certification for a Non-Countywide Reassessment Year, the Office of Property Assessments, at the direction of the Chief Assessment Officer, shall provide copies of the assessment roll for the upcoming Non-Countywide Reassessment year to each taxing body within the County for their review and use in the preparation of a budget and in the levying of property taxes for the upcoming tax year.
i. Taxing bodies that established a revenue neutral tax rate following the most recent County reassessment shall provide certification of such to the Office of Property Assessments by February 1st of the calendar year preceding the implementation of a Countywide Reassessment.
ii. Taxing bodies providing such certification and applying a revenue neutral tax rate following the most recent County reassessment shall have copies of the assessment roll provided to them at no charge.
iii. Taxing bodies that do not provide certification or did not apply a revenue neutral tax rate following the most recent County reassessment shall have copies of the assessment roll provided to them at a charge of $10,000 per copy, payable to the Allegheny County Treasurer.
SECTION 3.
Article 210, § 210.19, “Special transition rules: certification and appeal deadlines for the 2003, 2004 and 2005 tax years,” shall be amended as follows:
D. 2005 tax year: certification; notice; appeals.
(2) Notice of certification.
a) Upon Certification for the 2005 tax year, the Office of Property Assessments, at the direction of the Chief Assessment Officer, shall provide copies of the assessment roll for the 2005 tax year to each taxing body within the County.
i. Taxing bodies that intend to establish a revenue neutral tax rate following the County reassessment shall provide certification of such to the Office of Property Assessments by April 1st of the 2005 tax year.
ii. Taxing bodies providing such certification shall have copies of the assessment roll provided to them at no charge.
iii. Taxing bodies that do not provide certification shall have copies of the assessment roll provided to them at a charge of $10,000 per copy, payable to the Allegheny County Treasurer.
SECTION 4. If any provision of this Ordinance shall be determined to be unlawful, invalid, void or unenforceable, then that provision shall be considered severable from the remaining provisions of this Ordinance which shall be in full force and effect.
SECTION 5. Any Resolution or Ordinance or part thereof conflicting with the provisions of this Ordinance is hereby repealed so far as the same affects this Ordinance.