A Jan. 24, 2023, executive order by the mayor of Pittsburgh directed the city’s departments of Finance and Law to “begin a review of all tax-exempt properties to determine if properties currently designated as exempt from property taxes are owned by institutions of purely public charities and direct them to act on such information.”
Last year, the city challenged the status of 26 parcels. This past March, an additional 104 parcels were challenged.
The county’s property assessment website shows 17 different use codes for the 104 parcels. Forty-three fall under the code “charitable, hospitals and homes” and 19 owned by a “college, university or academy.” Of all the parcels, 33 are vacant land.
The total assessed value for the group is $805 million. Two hospitals represent 73 percent of the total. The combined millage rate for Pittsburgh (including special levies for libraries and parks), Allegheny County and Pittsburgh Public Schools is 23.79. The properties would generate $19.2 million annually in property taxes if deemed taxable.
A response from an open records request to the county shows that, as of Aug.7, reviews of 27 parcels were complete. One parcel was deemed half taxable, half exempt. Ten parcels have been reclassified as taxable. The assessed value of those properties is $2.1 million, with none over $1 million in assessed value. The annual tax collections of the three taxing bodies after the parcels are returned to taxable status total $50,604, with the city collecting $18,740 from its tax and the two special levies. One parcel has the use code of “charitable, hospitals and homes.” Two are vacant land.
Sixteen parcels remain exempt. The assessed value of those properties is much larger: $80.2 million. Four parcels have an assessed value of $5 million or greater. One that will remain exempt is close to $43 million assessed, which was the third-highest assessment in the group of challenges. All are owned by universities. The annual tax collections that would have arisen from these parcels is $1.9 million.
Obviously, the review of the city’s challenges will continue. In the meantime, the city should be doing all it can to return property it owns to the tax rolls. It should urge Pittsburgh Public Schools to move aggressively on its school realignment plan, which could result in the closure of nine buildings. At a combined assessed value of $30.2 million, those buildings would generate $718,458 in total property taxes.
