First the big picture. Property taxes are enacted at 3 levels of government. Municipal, County & Schools. Link to a relevant article. Coincidence it was in the The Morning Call today. Talks about how the current system forces all the burden on the back of homeowners.

Same with schools. Opinion held by many is that public schools are overly-reliant on local funding (𝘮𝘦𝘢𝘯𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳 𝘪𝘯𝘤𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘴𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘱𝘦𝘳𝘵𝘺 𝘵𝘢𝘹𝘦𝘴), in large part because the state does not cover a fair share. In fact, this issue is the subject of a longstanding lawsuit cosigned by several low income PA school districts. Clear the burden government places on homeowners at its current trajectory untenable.

To bring it back home, though reforming these local & state issues are not within the purview of County Government, the fact that the county is the entity that determines assessments ties us into the big picture. Assessments along with millage rates determine tax bills. Property owners are at the mercy of this.

Few understand the process of seeking appeals and most just accept assessments as correct and accurate. For those who are lucky enough to understand the process and believe their assessments are inaccurate I’m not in favor of 𝐀𝐍𝐘 barrier to appeal. Certainly not a fee that impacts lower income residents disproportionately. Note: 25-30% of appeals are indeed successful. With procedures involving administrative fees such as zoning hearing boards, building permits etc. the request is initiated by the person seeking to build. An assessment is initiated by Government. You have no choice. The appeal is a defense of a taxation initiated by government. Taxpayers should not have to pay to defend against the power of government. 

I also noted tonight that each year 150-225 homes are lost to sheriff, upset or judicial sales. These are folks who can’t afford the property tax burdens of one or multiple taxing entities and lost their homes.

Note: I would have supported a fee in the case of no show appeals. Which is apparently a problem. These are instances where a resident files an appeal application then no shows the hearing. In this case staff time (and taxpayer money) is wasted in prep.