Tax bills on properties in Allegheny County — many of which have been frozen since 2013 — will be reevaluated in the coming few years and could dramatically change in 2032, following a judge’s ruling issued Monday.
Counties set assessments on all taxable properties, meant to mirror market values. They are used to determine what owners pay annually to the county, school districts and municipalities.
Judge Kenneth Valasek, chosen to preside over assessment litigation by the Allegheny County Court of Common Pleas, ordered that the county begin property reassessment by July 2027. The court order comes days after the county Government Review Commission’s recommendation to establish routine property reassessments every four years.
“We’re very pleased with the court order. This is the relief we were seeking,” said Ira Weiss who represents Churchill homeowner Flavia E. Laun in her case against the county. Weiss also serves as legal counsel for the Pittsburgh Public Schools (PPS), which sued the county in pursuit of a property reassessment in 2024. That case is on appeal before the Commonwealth Court.
Weiss added that he thinks the decision will benefit not only PPS but all governments in the county and property owners. He said the current property reassessment system is in “terrible condition” and he hopes County Council will come up with an ordinance on regular property reassessments. He hopes routine property reassessments will depoliticize the issue, which was also an aim of the commission’s report from last week.
The county last reassessed all properties within its borders some 15 years ago, and the resulting values have been in place for many properties since 2013. Many assessments have changed, though, due to assessment appeals filed by either property owners or taxing bodies — often school districts. The resulting mix of long-frozen assessments and those determined by appeals has resulted in wildly different tax bills for properties that are similar and even next door to each other.
Despite attempts by state Sen. Wayne Fontana, D-Brookline, to pass legislation to make property reassessments routine across every county in the commonwealth, Pennsylvania remains the only state in the country that does not mandate routine property reassessments.
County Executive Sara Innamorato wrote in a statement that Pennsylvania would join other states in routine property assessments in an “ideal world.”
“While we are still working within an imperfect system, Allegheny County understands today’s court order and will comply in a professional manner with the direction to conduct a countywide reassessment within the next five years and every five years thereafter,” wrote Innamorato.
She wrote that she hopes the move will “create a lasting, transparent, and accessible reassessment system that puts the residents of Allegheny County first.”
What’s in the court order?
- The county must commence a new property reassessment by July 1, and complete it before June 30, 2032.
- The county must enlist a third-party contractor to conduct the reassessment within six months of the order.
- Within three months of that selection, the contractor must “materially and substantially” begin the new reassessment process.
- The county may use any method for data collection – whether that be in-person viewing of properties, aerial imagery or computer software.
While routine property reassessments might ameliorate existing property tax inequities, in the short-term regular property reassessments could hurt as many county property owners as they would help.
The state’s property tax windfall law ensures that taxing bodies must lower their millage rates proportionately so that the total amount of tax revenue collected stays roughly the same before and after the reassessment.
The county has taken action to reduce the impact on people who have remained in their homes for decades, who might otherwise see large jumps in tax bills following a reassessment. That action, though, doesn’t curb local or school tax bills.
In 2024, the General Assembly expanded the longtime owner-occupant tax exemption program, or LOOP, to municipalities in Allegheny County. The county passed its own LOOP earlier this year, and Pittsburgh City Council considered LOOP legislation, but never voted and it expired at the end of last year.
Once the reassessment takes place, the county’s LOOP would keep county tax bills from increasing by more than 35% for homeowners who make 125% of the area median income or less. Tax bills would increase by 7% each year until the liability matched the market value.
The county’s LOOP applies only to county taxes. Pittsburgh and other local municipalities and school districts would need to pass their own tax-exemption programs if they wished to protect constituents from large jumps in tax bills.
Pittsburgh Controller Rachael Heisler released a statement Monday that the court order “will remove political calculations from the process, provide transparency and consistency for homeowners, local governments, and school districts, and help ensure that all tax-eligible parcels contribute to local revenue,” adding that localities should put in place protections for long-time homeowners.
Pittsburgh’s Public Source investigated the county’s reassessment system from 2022 through 2024 in its series Unbalanced.
Ada Perlman is an editorial intern at Pittsburgh’s Public Source. She can be reached at ada@publicsource.org.
Mia Hollie contributed.
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