Recall that near the end of 2012 County Council held a hearing on the tax-exempt status of UPMC even though, under County law, that is not the Council’s job and soon after it was declared that the Office of Property Assessments would begin doing what it was supposed to do under the 2007 ordinance. Under a three year time frame as set out by that ordinance this would be the third time that the County would have a handle on whether tax exemptions granted to charitable organizations would be justified-instead, since the process fell by the wayside, just about two-thirds of the County’s charitable organizations have responded to a letter from the County on the issue.
Some have asked for an extension. The County’s solicitor noted "…If we got a good faith request, we gave them more time." And why shouldn’t they? To reiterate, Council passed the ordinance calling for the review once every three years in 2007. When the condition of the County’s tax-exempt files and the failure to do the scheduled review was revealed the only answer was that things "fell through the cracks". What is the County going to say to non-profits taking their time? Hurry up and get things done?
