On June 18 the State Tax Equalization Board (STEB) approved the 2024 Common Level Ratios (CLR) for Pennsylvania’s counties. The CLR “is a ratio that measures how a county’s Base Year Assessments compare with current Real Estate Market Valuations. The only use for this ratio is in the assessment appeal process.”
The CLR decreases as years pass between countywide reassessments, which in Pennsylvania can be decades. Allegheny County has a 2012 base year. Its CLR had been decreasing but sharply dropped in May 2023 when STEB approved a reduction in the 2020 CLR from 81.1 to 63.5. This resulted from a court ruling over the county’s submission of sales data to STEB (the lawsuit is currently pending at Commonwealth Court and is the subject of STEB administrative proceedings).
Allegheny County’s 2024 CLR is 50.14. For a property assessed at $100,000, the CLR implies a fair market value of $199,442. If a property owner feels the property would appraise for less than $199,442, a successful appeal could result in a lower assessment and lower property taxes. Allegheny County’s appeal period runs from July 1 to Sept. 2.
Calculating the CLR relies on monthly sales submissions by counties to STEB. In 2024, there were 30,534 sales in Allegheny County. The majority of these—24,609—were residential.
The CLR only uses valid sales, which are arms-length sales with “buyer and seller each acting prudently and knowledgeably and assuming price is not affected by unique stimulus.” Of the 30,534 sales, 9,522 (31 percent) were used to calculate Allegheny County’s CLR that will be used in appeals for all types of property—residential, commercial (including skyscrapers), industrial, etc.
Assessment and appeals officials and experts opined in a news article whether this drop in the CLR will lead to an increase in filings in Allegheny County. Appeals that have worked their way through the process average about 8,400 a year since 2015.
Moving to a regular reassessment cycle would put an end to the CLR—a median value that is intrinsically unfair and leads to inequities—and likely a lot of appeal activity. But with no progress on a legislative effort to mandate regular reassessments and since it is likely that a court decision would order a reassessment but not regular ones, the use of the CLR—a practice since 1982—will likely continue.
