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Revised assessments make tax collections fairer

Perry County assessors say they’re pleased with taxpayer reactions to their work

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Last updated: Saturday, July 19, 2008 11:39 PM EDT

By Jason Scott, Sentinel Reporter

Perry County tax assessors are nearly a third of the way through phase one — property review — of a 2010 county reassessment.

“For the most part, from a scheduling standpoint, we’re on track,” said Randy Waggoner, chief tax assessor. “We’re very pleased with property owners’ reactions.”

Field work is set to wrap up in Marysville and Rye Township this week, with plans to move on to Duncannon and Spring Township next, he explained.

“We will have pretty much of the central and southeast complete,” Waggoner said.

County commissioners agreed to the project, an update of the 2000 reassessment, at the end of January. Officials have said the decline in the county’s common level ratio, a measure of the discrepancy between its market value and assessed value, was the main reason for initiating it.

“The bottom line is fairness,” Commissioner Stephen Naylor said.

Property assessments have stayed the same over the entire decade, while sale prices have increased, which creates the possibility that lower-valued properties will shoulder a disproportionate share of the tax burden, officials noted.

“It’s something a lot of people dread hearing,” Naylor said. “The focus is not to raise taxes, it’s to bring about fairness.”

Shared burden

By reassessing all county properties, approximately 23,000 parcels, the burden of real estate taxes will continue to be shared uniformly and equitably by all property owners, Waggoner said.

When the county conducts a reassessment, it’s typical that one-third of property owners see an increase in their real estate taxes, one-third experience no change and one-third see a reduction, he explained.

“We’re releveling the playing surface,” Waggoner said, arguing that reassessment should be done on a cyclical basis. “When the common level ratio is different than the predetermined ratio by 15 percent or more, that’s when you should think about doing a countywide reassessment.”

That generally occurs six to 10 years after the previous assessment, he said.

Even though housing sales and building has slowed down some, property values are increasing in Perry County, Waggoner added.

“From what I’m seeing, there is not a decline in values,” he said.

Pennsylvania assessment law states that in the first year after a reassessment, neither a municipality nor a county can increase real estate tax revenue by more than 5 percent and school districts no more than 10 percent of the previous year’s revenue.

Ongoing process

Field reviews are expected to be completed by October or November, with data entry to follow, according to Waggoner.

County workers should finish that by mid- to late-January before re-evaluating the data.

The reassessment company, 21st Century Appraisals, will then take the verified information collected by March and create valuation models and preliminary values on the properties, Waggoner said.

Notice of new assessment values on all properties will be mailed on or before July 1, 2009. Property owners will have the opportunity to contact the assessment office to discuss the new value before it is assigned in 2010. Filing of a formal appeal is also an option property owners can take.