Recent news that Washington County residents may face property reassessments for the first time in nearly 30 years is not being welcomed by the county's top elected official.

"It's horrible," said Larry Maggi, county Board of Commissioners chairman. "It's the worst possible timing."

Mr. Maggi and others fear Washington County could be forced to spend millions of taxpayer dollars for a reassessment that could soon be obsolete, or that the county could wind up in the same kind of debacle as Allegheny County -- mired in litigation with thousands of costly tax appeals.

The last reassessment was in 1979.

Washington County agreed recently to begin reassessments in September, provided that the state Legislature or judiciary hasn't made significant changes in real estate assessment practices.

The agreement settles a lawsuit by the McGuffey and Washington school districts to force a countywide reassessment. Both districts have struggled with raising property tax rates in recent years.

A county-sponsored study last year found that tax rates likely would increase for about 27 percent of the population and drop for about 25 percent.

Those findings, along with a price tag of as much as $8 million for reassessments, made county commissioners resistant to take the first step.

As apprehensive as they were about the price, Mr. Maggi said commissioners found out last week that the cost now is closer to about $12 million, according to a random sampling of assessment firms who may be interested in submitting proposals.

Mr. Maggi said the county would be forced to borrow much of that sum, and it's unclear if that would be possible with the recent credit market crunch.

The county also may have to repay the debt through higher taxes, amounting to a double whammy for some property owners.

"We don't know if there's any money available to borrow," he said. "That's another issue we have to deal with. Taxpayers are going to get hit like they usually do."

Mr. Maggi said commissioners had been counting on the state Legislature to reform property taxes, especially since the introduction of gaming, but it's unclear when, or if, that will ever happen.

As it now stands, legislators have forwarded a number of proposals to raise income and/or sales tax to replace property tax, but the idea doesn't seem to have gained much traction in Harrisburg.

Mr. Maggi said commissioners are holding out hope that the Legislature acts before September.

"They have been talking about property tax reform for 20 years," Mr. Maggi said of legislators. "The Legislature has been running on that issue for years."

Another issue that could forestall, or at least modify, reassessments would be a decision in a lawsuit brought by several Allegheny County homeowners that challenges the constitutionality of base-year assessments, used by Washington, Allegheny, and many of the state's 65 other counties.

The Pennsylvania Supreme Court in September heard arguments in the case that challenged the 1982 law that gave counties the go ahead to use base-year calculations when determining property taxes.

In 2007, Allegheny County Common Pleas Judge R. Stanton Wettick ruled that it is unconstitutional to base property taxes on a historical base year, because it unfairly gives a break to homeowners whose property values have risen.

Mr. Maggi said he's unsure what other calculation the county could use to determine property values, but he doesn't want to spend millions and then find out the system is flawed or unconstitutional.

"We're hoping there is a ruling before we're forced into this," he said.

The county agreed to the settlement with the school districts largely because it didn't have much of a case, he said.

Even if school districts such as McGuffey and Washington believe they will see more revenue from a reassessment, the state has taken action against other counties -- including Allegheny -- to prevent taxing bodies from collecting a windfall.

And there are other unintended consequences, including massive reductions in assessments for malls and other commercial establishments that have seen declining business over the decades.

In 2006, Allegheny County, West Mifflin and the West Mifflin School District were shocked to learn that Century III Mall received a 41 percent reduction in its property assessment, costing the three entities at least $1.5 million in annual tax revenue.

Though it was the largest property and taxpayer in West Mifflin, the mall had seen steadily declining revenue, bringing to mind the Washington Mall, which went from booming in the 1980s to just a handful of tenants today.

Debbie Bardella, director of the Washington County Tax Revenue Department, remembers when the county hired about 200 workers to help with the last assessment.

This time around, Ms. Bardella said the county has a reliable database of properties, including sale prices, which should negate the need for such a mass hiring.

"We believe that we have a good database," she said.

Judging from feedback she's received from assessment firms, Ms. Bardella said it may be necessary to do spot checks of some of the county's estimated 117,000 properties, but little else.

"It sounds like we're OK," she said. "We will do as much as we can in-house."

One change Ms. Bardella hopes to see with a reassessment would be tax rates based on 100 percent of assessed property value. For years, the county has based its tax collection on 25 percent of assessed value.

Other neighboring counties, such as Butler, have considered raising the percentage to avert tax increases.

According to standards of uniformity established by the professional organization of assessors, average assessments in Washington County are about 38.6 percent off the actual market value, meaning they could be 38.6 percent too high or too low.

In Greene County, assessments are the worst statewide, about 53.8 percent off the mark, while Cumberland County has the lowest deviation at 12.1 percent.

Because properties in Washington County have been assessed using values from 1979, the biggest change would probably be seen for people who have built homes since then. And, the newer the home, the higher the deviation is likely to be.

"The people who would get hit the hardest would be people who built homes in the last 20 years," Mr. Maggi said.

If the county is forced to begin reassessments in September, the commissioners have agreed to try to wrap them up before 2012 -- the end of their current terms in office.

Until September, Mr. Maggi said the commissioners will continue to lobby the Legislature to tackle property tax reform and hope the Supreme Court issues a decision regarding the base-year calculations.

"I really think the pressure is on the Legislature for property tax reform," he said.

If neither issue is resolved by then, the county will begin looking to assessment firms for bids to begin the process, Mr. Maggi said.

"It's not going to be pretty," he said.