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An ordinance of the County of Allegheny, Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, amending the Administrative Code of Allegheny County, Article 207, entitled “New Board of Property Assessment Appeals and Review,” §5-207.08, entitled “Filing of appeals,” in order to establish special assessment appeal windows for 2022 and 2023 for properties impacted by court-ordered adjustments to the County’s Common Level Ratio.
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Whereas, the Administrative Code of Allegheny County, Article 207, establishes the right to appeal the assessed values of properties subject to real estate taxation; and
Whereas, appeals of assessed property values may be filed based upon either the base year value of such property, or based upon its current fair market value, adjusted to the base year by application of the common level ratio; and
Whereas, as indicated by the County’s Assessment Standards and Practices code (contained within Article 210 of the Administrative Code), the common level ratio is “[t]he ratio of assessed value to current market value used generally in the County as last determined by the State Tax Equalization Board….”; and
Whereas, the common level ratio thus functions as a means of converting current fair market value to a value approximating the correct base year value for a given property; and
Whereas, because common level ratios are based upon property sales through an entire calendar year, and because it takes time to compile sales data, calculate the ratio, and certify the results, there is a two year delay in applying common level ratios to adjust sale prices in the appeal process (that is, the 2020 common level ratio is applied to appeals based on current market value taking place in 2022, the 2021 ratio will be applied to appeals in 2023, and so on); and
Whereas, the Council’s Special Committee on Assessment Practices, in reviewing the Gioffre v. Allegheny County litigation, has repeatedly noted that the Allegheny County Court of Common Pleas has altered the C...
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