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An Ordinance of the Allegheny County Council amending Part 5, Article 207 of the Administrative Code to establish the duties of the Board of Property Assessment Appeals and Review under the Home Rule Charter with regard to reporting property owners' names on the County's real estate website, and amending Ordinance No. 58-03-OR to render it consistent with the amended Administrative Code.
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WHEREAS, Article X, Section 5 of the Home Rule Charter establishes that the Board of Property Assessment Appeals and Review shall ensure access to public records regarding assessments; and
WHEREAS, County Council recognizes that certain portions of real estate records are public records, but also that other information that is currently shown on the assessment website may have the potential for compromising the safety or security of County residents; and
WHEREAS, the County real estate website was created to enable property owners free and convenient access to public information for the purpose of searching for and identifying properties, rather than individuals; and
WHEREAS, the current configuration of the County's assessment website allows any person with access to the internet to use only an individual's name to discover his or her address and, in many cases, to gain access to photographs of the outside and/or floor plans of the inside of his or her home; and
WHEREAS, neither the Home Rule Charter nor any applicable state statute requires that the County real estate website permit searches of properties by owner name;
The Council of the County of Allegheny hereby enacts as follows:
SECTION 1.
Article 207, §207.07(F) of the Administrative Code of Allegheny County is hereby amended as follows:
Section 207.07 Powers and Duties of Board
The new Appeals Board shall have the power and its duty shall be to:
A. Hear all cases of appeals from assessments and tax exemption status determination in accordance with its rules and regulations governing appeals as provided in §5-207.06 of the Administrative Code;
B. Contract, if necessary to fulfill its duties, with hearing officers to hear cases of appeals from assessments in accordance with the Assessment Appeals Standards and Practices Ordinance Sections as provided in Chapter 209 of this Administrative Code, and in which case such hearing officers shall:
(1) In the case of hearings related to commercial and complex multifamily properties, be state-certified general appraisers or have the equivalent professional appraisal expertise;
(2) In the case of hearings related to residential properties, be state-certified general or state-certified residential appraisers or be real estate industry professionals or lawyers with residential valuation expertise;
(3) Disclose all property in which they have any ownership or business interest;
(4) Recuse themselves from any decision regarding the taxable value of property in which they have any ownership or business interest; and
(5) For a one-year period commencing upon the termination date of their contract, be prohibited from representing appellants before the Board of Property Assessment Appeals and Review and/or other hearing officers retained by the Board of Property Assessment Appeals and Review.
C. Render decisions of appeal hearings;
Hear and decide all appeals of the Office of Property Assessment's determination concerning the tax exempt status of any property;
Provide reports of hearings for distribution to the entire Appeals Board. Reports shall include, but not be limited to, findings of fact, conclusions of law and a recommendation to the Appeals Board;
Ensure access to public records regarding assessments in accordance with Article X, Section 5 of the Charter, provided:
(1) The public shall not be granted direct access to any computerized database or any other information in any form that renders it possible to determine a property owner's address or other information based solely on his or her name;
(2) Any searches of available public records regarding property assessments, whether computerized or in another format, may only be performed when the requestor identifies the requested property information by both the property owner's name and either the address or the lot and block number of the property for which records are requested; and
(3) Any request for public records may only be processed when made in writing, and such request must include the requestor's name and address. E-mailed or other electronic requests shall be considered to be written requests for the purpose of this subsection, provided that they meet the name and address requirements set forth herein. The Appeals Board shall retain copies of all requests for a period of five years.
(4) The provisions of this section do not apply to transfers of information between County or other local, state or federal government agencies.
Perform and exercise such other powers and duties as may be conferred or imposed upon it by applicable Law and the provisions of this Administrative Code;
Adopt rules and regulations, within six months of formation, consistent with applicable laws; and
I. Report annually to the Chief Executive and County Council regarding the activities of the Appeals Board.
SECTION 2.
Section 2 of Ordinance No. 58-03-OR, entitled “Ordinance of the County of Allegheny, Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, providing that any property assessment data that is public information be provided on the Allegheny County website, free of charge,” is hereby amended to read as follows:
The Allegheny County Real Estate Web Site shall have searching capabilities which shall include, but not be limited to, the ability to search by property address, block and lot number, owner name, street, and municipality.
SECTION 3. Severability. 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. Repealer. 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.