Summary: Allegheny County’s property values in 2018 stand at $100.3 billion, with $78.9 billion being taxable and $21.4 billion exempt from taxation. These figures are based on the 2018 County Certification Roll.
Allegheny County has officially certified its property values for 2018. Taxable value stands at $78.9 billion, up 1.5 percent over 2017’s amount. Unless there is a countywide reassessment, changes to property values year to year reflect new construction, improvements, demolition, corrections to records and appeals by property owners and taxing bodies (over 7,000 appeals were filed in 2017).
The County Certification Roll (CCR) is published by the Office of Property Assessments (OPA). The CCR presents taxable and exempt property by municipality and separates taxable value into residential and commercial as well as the values for buildings and land. Residential value stood at $54.4 billion and commercial value at $24.4 billion. Both categories increased from 2017, 1.3 percent and 1.8 percent, respectively. The combined value of residential and commercial land was certified at $21 billion while the value of all buildings was placed at $57.8 billion (increases of 0.4 percent and 1.8 percent, respectively).
The largest municipality in the county, the City of Pittsburgh, saw its taxable value increase from $18.5 billion to $18.8 billion with much of that increase resulting from growth in building value. Commercial building value rose from $7.1 billion in 2017 to $7.3 billion this year. In the city’s second ward (much of the Golden Triangle and Strip District), commercial building value rose from $2.2 billion to $2.3 billion.
Meanwhile, there were sizable percentage jumps in taxable value in Marshall Township with its 8.8 percent increase from 2017’s certified values to 2018 and Ohio Township’s gain of 7.9 percent. Though Marshall is primarily residential, commercial building value climbed 17 percent contributing substantially to the gain in its overall taxable value.
In the second tier of taxable value growth nine other municipalities grew in the 3 to 4 percent range.
At the other end of the spectrum there were five communities that experienced taxable value declines in 2018 by more than 1 percent. These were primarily in the Mon Valley area with Homestead, Braddock, Braddock Hills, Wilmerding and West Mifflin losing taxable value.
Taxable value rose in 88 municipalities while 40 municipalities saw decreases from 2017. In multi-municipality school districts there are cases where certified value increased in one municipality and decreased in another. Two examples: in the Gateway School District Monroeville’s value increased while Pitcairn’s fell and in Deer Lakes School District the value in Frazer increased while the values in East Deer and West Deer fell.
Of the 113 municipalities that have reported their 2018 millage rate to the County Treasurer’s Office, here is how their rate compares to 2017: 95 left the rate unchanged, 11 increased the rate, and seven decreased the rate. Allegheny County and Pittsburgh Public Schools also operate on a calendar year and both left millage unchanged from last year.
Change in taxable value will produce different revenue collection for taxing bodies depending on the millage rate. Consider the following examples:
• Pine Township did not change its 0.998 millage rate this year, but taxable value increased to $1.860 billion from $1.796 billion. This translates to an additional $64,464 in property taxes for the township without a tax increase if the full levy is collected, with a total approaching $1.86 million in property taxes.
• In Homestead Borough the municipality also did not change its 13.33 millage rate; however its certified value fell from $180.7 million in 2017 to $173.4 million this year. This means if the full levy was collected in both years Homestead would collect $2.3 million in 2018, which is about $97,000 less than last year due to the decrease in taxable property value.
• In South Fayette Township, taxable value increased from $1.271 billion to $1.303 billion and the government increased the millage rate by a quarter mill. If the millage had stayed at 4.48 the township would have netted an additional $144,000 in 2018 just from the increase in value. Combined with the millage hike to 4.73, full collection will result in an additional $470,000 in real estate taxes compared to 2017 and $326,000 above what would have been brought in without the millage increase.
• Rankin Borough saw its certified value slip slightly from $17.6 million to $17.4 million and the millage rate was reduced from 9.69 mills to 8.4 mills in 2018. Mathematically, that will result in a $24,000 drop in property tax revenue.
Lastly, as part of the certification process the OPA produces a certified value for exempt properties, i.e., properties owned by government, charities, universities, churches, etc., that are not subject to taxation. This value continues to decline from the 2016 level ($23.1 billion) to stand at $21.4 billion in 2018. Over half of the exempt value is accounted for by properties in the City of Pittsburgh. Bear in mind that the county is engaged in an ongoing examination of exempt properties to ensure their exemptions are justified. Allegheny County’s ratio of taxable to exempt property was $3.69 to $1 based on 2018’s certified values.
Note that since the 2013 reassessment taxable value has increased by $5.7 billion from $73.1 billion to $78.9 billion in 2018—a rise of 7.9 percent.
