There’s suddenly a new chapter in the cluster cluck that is government at the county and state levels thumbing their noses at the Pennsylvania Constitution:
By garsh, Pittsburgh Public Schools (PPS) is threatening to sue Allegheny County to force the first countywide property reassessment in 12 years.
And a state senator is proposing, at long last, a statewide edict that would force regular reassessments. Well, sort of.
And the Allegheny County executive says she’s working on the problem. Well, kind of.
Without getting too deep into the weeds, county and state pols long ignored the state Constitution’s mandate of uniform taxation by allowing the property assessment system to fall into disrepair.
Employing the rusted baling wire and chewing gum that is the “common level ratio” (CLR) to “fix” it was like trying to stick a finger in dike hole to stem the inevitable.
Without regular reassessments – we prefer every three years – those whose home values have fallen keep paying too much in property taxes. Those whose home values have risen have paid too little.
Pols made all manner of excuses for ignoring a state Constitution they swore to uphold. Some admitted that ordering a reassessment would be political suicide. Some of the same pols proffered the specious argument that the higher taxes that a reassessment brought would force every man, woman, child and all their pets out into the streets.
While those for too long skating by and not paying what they should indeed would see their property tax bills rise, those paying the freight of the underassessed at long last would see tax relief.
And anti-windfall provisions would prevent governments from rolling in any fast-rising dough, so to speak.
While state Sen. Wayne Fontana proposes a supposedly more orderly, slow-march to a solution – convening “stakeholders” to study a statewide remedy (Thank you, Sen. Come Lately, but the issue doesn’t need more discussion, it requires action) – PPS says it’s ready to go to court to force an Allegheny County reassessment.
That is, if a letter of entreaty to county Chief Executive Sara Innamorato to order a reassessment bears no fruit.
And that remains a huge question mark. As the Post-Gazette reported Thursday, Innamorato, without addressing the threatened PPS lawsuit, says her office is working “to gather all of the relevant data about the state of assessments in the county and engage stakeholders at the state and municipal level to create a more thoughtful and consistent approach.”
The “state of assessments”? Broken, obviously.
“(T)o create a more thoughtful and consistent approach”? How about following the state Constitution?
“We recognize this is a priority and are working intentionally and quickly to bring the right people and the necessary information together to make informed decisions,” she said.
Continued the ACE:
“And we need everyone to recognize that the way we’ve done reassessments has been broken for a long time. Delaying what should be a regular and revenue-neutral process into something that is avoided for a decade and then shocks the system may have massive unintended consequences for vulnerable neighbors,” she said.
So, there’s going to be even more of a delay that “shocks the system” further and has even more “massive unintended consequences” as “progressives” Christmastree any “solution” with the rotten stench of misidentified “diversity, equity and inclusion”?
Really?
Additionally, Innamorato appears to be looking through rose-colored glasses in suggesting that this, that and/or any government intervention will raise the tax base and save the day. She points specifically to a supposedly rebounding Greater Pittsburgh economy and taxpayer-funded conversions of vacant office space Downtown into residential units.
Talk about daft notions. Have graveyards, will whistle past them, eh?
PPS says it will hold its fire regarding any lawsuit and give the ACE a limited time frame of courtesy to respect the process of coming up with a reassessment plan. But that courtesy is not, nor should it be, open-ended.
The solution, now, is to reassess, reassess as soon as possible and then reassess on a regular basis thereafter.
Indeed, the assessments mess has come to a head. Stay tuned. But if past is prologue and the cartoon-like characters of this sadly long-running saga don’t rise to their constitutional responsibility, well, the operative phrase will be “stay tooned.”
Colin McNickle is communications and marketing director at the Allegheny Institute for Public Policy (cmcnickle@alleghenyinstitute.org).
