Taxman, Meet Parking Garages
As we pointed out in yesterday’s Brief part of the expense side of the equation for the successful bidder will be the responsibility of paying real estate taxes on garages and lots owned by the Public Parking Authority presently. That’s because the Authority, as an instrumentality of the City, is exempt from paying real estate taxes on its properties and a lease that is longer than 29 ½ years implies ownership (it is envisioned that the bid will involve a 50 year lease).
Examining the nine garages located in the Golden Triangle and their block and lot numbers from the County’s assessment website shows that the structures have a combined assessed value of around $88 million. The highest valued structure is the First Avenue Garage, located by a trolley stop and PNC Firstside and has the most spaces of any Authority owned garage, at $20 million. The lowest valued garage is the Fort Duquesne/Sixth structure built in 1959 and having a value of $5.4 million.
On that $88 million the City, Pittsburgh Schools, and Allegheny County would share $2.6 million in annual tax revenue from the garages.
Of course, since the County is in the process of reassessing all properties in order to prepare for the 2012 tax year it is likely that some values, and the overall tax tike, will likely increase.