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Wednesday, December 25, 2002

By Mark Belko, Post-Gazette Staff Writer

Despite calls by an Allegheny County councilman for a delay, the chairman of the county property assessment oversight board said yesterday he has no intention of pushing back a New Year's Eve vote on 2003 property values.

George Whitmer, who chairs the three-member oversight board, said he fears that delaying the meeting simply will lead to a tie vote that could throw the 2003 assessments into turmoil.

Dec. 31 will be the last day financier Robert Stephenson serves on the board. His reappointment was rejected by Democrats on County Council.

Whitmer said he expects council Vice President Rick Schwartz, a Democrat who sits on the oversight board, to vote against certifying 2003 property values, as he did with the 2002 assessments. Whitmer said he will vote for the new numbers, most of which haven't changed.

Whitmer said he believes a tie vote would trigger a court battle over the legitimacy of the assessments.

"I see no reason for putting the process back into the courts," he said.

The oversight board was set to meet Jan. 6 before Whitmer moved up the meeting to ensure Stephenson's participation.

Schwartz fired off a letter Monday asking for a delay, saying he needed more time to review the numbers. He said it was presumptuous to think he would vote against the new assessments.

"I have gone on record as saying that if I have good numbers, I will vote for certification," he said.

But he added his vote isn't guaranteed.

"I refuse to be a rubber stamp. I'm not going to vote for bad numbers and that is not political," he said.

Whitmer has said there is no need for extensive analysis of the numbers because most have not changed from 2002 to 2003 because there has been no countywide reassessment for the first time in three years.

The oversight board reviews assessment totals for the county and municipalities. It does not review individual values. The certification is a legal bookkeeping task that allows the county, municipalities and school districts to use the values for tax purposes and to allow homeowners to appeal assessments they believe to be inaccurate.

"It is completely reasonable to have a meeting when there is a full complement of members," said county Manager Bob Webb, who supports the decision to move up the vote.

Webb accused council Democrats of trying to create chaos in the assessment system by rejecting Stephenson's reappointment and leaving the oversight board unable to break a tie.

Schwartz, who has hired an outside consultant to review the 2003 assessments, said that was "completely false." He said rushing through the certification could cause people to lose confidence in the system.

"I think that it puts too much of a question in peoples' minds [about the assessments]. We're trying to restore the trust in people. They feel they have been lied to in the last two reassessments," he said.

Webb and Whitmer said a tie vote could force the county to revert back to the 2002 assessments and may require people who got those values lowered on appeal this year to go through the process again next year.

But assessment board Solicitor Isobel Storch said she believes the appeal results would stand, regardless of whether the 2003 assessments were certified or not.

"I don't know that appeal results have to be certified. Appeal results are a judicial decision that do not need to be certified," she said.