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Friday, February 08, 2002

Joseph Chraska of Mount Oliver is a patient man, but he has his limits. Chraska, 78, a retired maintenance foreman for the state Liquor Control Board, last year successfully appealed the assessment on his modest 1 1/2 story home.

	Joseph Chraska holds copies of his property assessment notices on the back deck of his home on Hays Avenue in Mount Oliver. Chraska had trouble getting a $167 refund check from the city school district. (Andy Starnes, Post-Gazette)

Although Sabre Systems and Service assessed the house at $41,900, the Allegheny County Board of Property Assessment, Appeals and Review lowered its value to $29,900. The assessment board sent notice of the reduced assessment to the county, the borough and the city school district, which educates Mount Oliver children.

Chraska's appeal hearing was held May 21. The board notified him June 18 that it lowered his assessment. He received his county refund check for $55.50 five weeks later.

He didn't receive a refund from Mount Oliver because the borough got the information about his lowered assessment before it sent out its real estate tax bills.

Because Chraska got his county refund a month after his appeal was upheld, he figured the $167 refund check from the city school district soon would show up in his mailbox.

Wrong.

"It's been almost seven months," he said. "What's taking them so long?"

It's a good thing he called me. The paperwork to process his refund, known as an A&E [Additions and Exonerations] form, was misplaced. No one knows what happened to it.

"I can't find it anywhere in our system," city Treasurer Rich Fees told me Wednesday evening.

After confirming Chraska is entitled to the $167 refund, the county, city and school district yesterday teamed up to expedite it.

Dominick Gambino, the county's manager of property assessments, completed the A&E form in the County Office Building and had it hand-delivered to Fees in the City-County Building.

Fees' staff has started to process it. If all goes as planned, Fees will send an invoice to the city controller's office as soon as the school district wires the refund money to his office.

Chris Berdnik, the school district's finance director, said his office will process Chraska's refund in about two days.

Deputy City Controller Tony Pekora said his office will process Chraska's invoice, write a check and get it in the mail "no later than two days after we get it."

Fees said the refund process should go smoother in the future when computers will process all the information for refunds.

"Tell Mr. Chraska we apologize for the delay," Fees said.

I did.

"That's OK," Chraska said. "I'm just glad to hear I'll be getting it."

I asked him what he and his wife, Gloria, 77, were going to do with the check. "We're going to give it to charity," he said.

And then he added:

"You know, we're going to have to do this all over again."

Why?

"Well, we got our 2002 assessment a few weeks ago," he said, with a sigh of resignation in his voice. "It was increased from $29,900 to $53,400, and we haven't made any improvements to the house to justify it.

"Can you believe that?"

Unfortunately, yes I can.

Lawrence Walsh can be reached at 412-263-1895. His e-mail address is lwalsh@post-gazette.com.