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Ordinance of the County of Allegheny, Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, providing that the next Countywide reassessment shall occur in 2034 or two years following the date upon which State law is amended to require revenue neutral budgeting following a reassessment or change in predetermined ratio.
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WHEREAS, the Office of Property Assessment found that the values generated for the 2006 Countywide Reassessment resulted in an increase of twenty percent in the valuation of all parcels of property within the County; with seventy-nine percent of all residential properties experiencing some increase, and 199,000 residential properties experiencing an increase of over twenty percent; and
WHEREAS, although the values generated for the 2006 Countywide Reassessment are technically accurate and in compliance with IAAO Standards, there remain existing problems with the certification of those numbers and use of the values by taxing jurisdictions; and
WHEREAS, § 4980.2 of the Second Class County Code provides that local taxing bodies must reduce tax rates following a countywide reassessment so that property tax revenues shall not exceed more than one hundred five percent of revenues from property taxation in the preceding tax year, but local experience has shown that many local taxing jurisdictions failed to comply; and
WHEREAS, additionally, the Windfall Provision lacks an enforcement mechanism to allow citizens to challenge or force compliance with the provision by taxing jurisdictions;
WHEREAS, although the state's assessment laws require that countywide reassessments must be performed, none of these statutes specify the time frame in which a countywide reassessment must be performed; significant litigation has centered on whether a countywide reassessment could be ordered by a court because assessed values with a county had been rendered non-uniform due either to the passage of time from the last countywide reassessment or due to assessment schemes that changed property values for properties located within one part or region of a county;
WHEREAS, in the case of Wentworth Miller v. Board of Property Assessments, an assessment freeze ordered by the then Board of Allegheny County Commissioners, in conjunction with the then Board of Property Assessment, was held to be a failure to perform any reassessment of property within the County, violated state law and was therefore illegal;
WHEREAS, in order to avoid a holding that such action by this County is a failure to perform a reassessment, Allegheny County shall take into consideration when reassessments were last done in four neighboring counties (Beaver, Butler, Washington, and Westmoreland), and average the amount of time that has elapsed since the last reassessment to establish the date when Allegheny County will next reassess.
The Council of the County of Allegheny hereby enacts as follows:
SECTION 1.
The Office of Property Assessments, at the direction of the Chief Assessment Officer, shall next perform a valuation of all objects of taxation in the County, increasing or decreasing the same as in its judgment may seem proper, in the 2034 tax year; provided, however, that if State law is amended to require revenue neutral budgeting following a reassessment or change in predetermined ratio, such valuation shall occur two years from the date on which the state law becomes effective.
SECTION 2.
Upon enactment of this ordinance, the appropriate changes shall be made to the Administrative Code to effect this change.
SECTION 3. 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 4. 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.