In April the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania struck down the County’s base year plan as unconstitutional and remanded the matter to the Court of Common Pleas where a "reasonable timeframe" was to be attained. The County felt they could not get a reassessment done for two years, the attorneys for opponents of the base year felt it could happen much more quickly.
Judge Wettick settled on a four year incremental plan under which the County will be completely reassessed by October 2013. From initial reports on the order, the County is to be partitioned into four equal parts, with no division of municipalities or school districts. In October of 2010, the first section (based on market values as of June 30, 2009) will be assessed; this process will continue for the other three sections until completed in October 2013.
One can immediately see a problem: Section 1 will be based on market values as of 2009, while Section 4 will be based on market values of 2012, a three year spread. That is akin to the type of spot assessments that the County did in the 1990s that led to lawsuits, and would produce the same type of inequity that was cited in the current litigation, namely faster appreciating areas would be treated differently from areas with falling values, all the while they are locked into the same year.
And questions arise: would Section 1 be reassessed in 2014 and the subsequent Sections at four year intervals? What happens if there is a big change in the economy after an assessment of one of the Sections? How can a taxpayer in what becomes Section 4 pay taxes for the next four years on an assessment system declared unconstitutional by the state’s highest court?
How the Judge arrived at this solution is nothing short of spectacular. It is a complete departure from his instructions contained in earlier court cases, where he urged the County to "be ready" to reassess. Now the plan will drag things out even further. This has to be viewed as a big win for the "no reassessment" crowd. The Judge said he is open to an alternative from the County. He should not hold his breath.
This does not sound like the solution the Supreme Court was shooting for.
