Yesterday’s Brief examined 2015 assessment appeals and spent some time talking about the two primary municipal appellants of assessments–Pittsburgh and Mt. Lebanon–and how both have altered their guidelines for how they will appeal.  Last year, Mt. Lebanon (the municipality, not the school district) changed from one where the following had to occur:

1. Property had to sell for $100,000 or more, and

2. The sales price had to exceed assessed value by $58,000 or more, and

3. Assessed to sales ratio must be 85% or less

to this standard, as noted in a 2015 news article: “properties with a difference of $100,000 or more between the Federal Housing Administration comparable and its assessed value”.

In 2014, Mt. Lebanon filed 287 appeals.  Last year, 26 were filed.  Half of those appeals were for homes sold in the years 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, and 2004.  The new standard did include 5 “newcomers” (five appeals were for homes sold in 2014) but 3 sales prior to 1993 were brought for appeal.  The pre-appeal value in aggregate of the municipal appeals was $6 million (average property value of $230k) and, after appeals, rose to $10 million.