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To: WhyisaTexasgirlinPA

It’s a long, involved story and I’m not even sure what he wants to use, nor are all the taxing bodies involved.

Basic story is that people sued about how “unfair” the assessment system was since a countywide assessment was not done for decades. Properties in once booming mill towns were overvalued while newer suburbans developments were undervalued.

I’m sure there is a good deal of truth to that. But rather than having a rational appeals process, a judge ordered a countywide reassessment years ago. That was a fiasco. At one point it was even ordered to do a new assessment every year, which is insanity. People would get their new assessments, scream, file appeals, get the value adjusted just in time to get their new overvalued assessment for next year.

So they eventually stuck with the 2002 values. Until now, when the judge has ordered a new assessment. They apparently did this one even worse than the previous ones. You had a guy whose parking spot in his condo was valued higher than the condo itself. Another who bought a crack house to renovate and had it assessed like it was already repaired.

All from lawsuits against the one county.

Now, the kicker to the whole thing is that any reassessment is supposed to be revenue neutral (within some wiggle room) for taxing bodies. So if values go up by 5%, millages should go down to make the revenue brought in stay the same. So when people get a new high assessment, they freak out, but they really need to know what the tax bill is supposed to be. But they don’t have that information yet.

But if you reassess frequently, the wiggle room amounts to tax increases that no politician ever has to vote on.


66 posted on 01/06/2012 8:27:38 AM PST by SoothingDave
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To: SoothingDave
thanks - after reading your other comment I could see that it wasn't a Statewide reassessment so that did seem strange. We weren't in PA long enough to learn that assessments were done as you were explaining, and our home and area were new so I guess they were assessed based on current values.

But I don't think Texas is much better about a system. In a smaller town we saw a very haphazard system that only seemed to update if you sold or had to obtain a permit to remodel your home. But here we get yearly evaluations just based on the economy (up or down) and we can protest.

69 posted on 01/06/2012 8:39:19 AM PST by WhyisaTexasgirlinPA (Congress touched me inappropriately, they should be put on administrative leave immediately)
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