It cost hundreds of millions of dollars to build the Pittsburgh casino. But more than a month after it opened, it's still worth only a fraction of that to Allegheny County assessors.

On the county's real estate Web site, the 12.6-acre site on which the Rivers Casino sits is listed as "vacant commercial land" even though an accompanying photo clearly shows the sleek glass and steel structure. The land is valued at $4.1 million, less than a typical week's worth of revenue for the casino.

A separate parcel valued at $2,800 is still listed as tax exempt even though it was it was purchased by casino owner, Holdings Acquisition Co. LP, in March.

In all, the eight North Shore parcels that make up the casino complex are currently valued at $7.7 million, well below the $320 million to $340 million it cost just to construct the building that includes 3,000 slot machines, eight restaurants and bars, a riverfront promenade and an outdoor amphitheater. The total project cost was nearly $800 million.

The current assessments relate almost exclusively to the value of the land. Contrast that to the neighboring Carnegie Science Center, which is valued at $27.7 million by assessors.

Only now, nearly two months after it opened, is the county starting the process of valuing the casino itself by preparing to hire a consultant to help calculate its worth.

"The casino has no comparable. It is a one-of-a-kind operation in Allegheny County. We have put out a [request for proposals] to hire a consultant who basically will be a casino valuation expert," said Kevin Evanto, a spokesman for Executive Dan Onorato.

But some wonder what has taken so long. Ira Weiss, solicitor for the Pittsburgh School District, said the county should have been ready to set a value as soon as the casino opened to the public Aug. 9.

"The issue is half way around the world before the county is out of bed and has its shoes and socks on," he said. "Given the size of the development, its prominence, the fact it's built on prime riverfront property, this is something the county should have been able to deal with quickly."

For the school district, the casino's value is no small book keeping matter. It has the potential to generate millions of dollars in property tax revenue each year, money the district can't begin to collect until there is an accurate assessment.

Mr. Weiss noted that it not only benefits the district but the county and the city as well to get the property on the tax rolls as quickly as possible. If the casino ends up being assessed at $340 million, for instance, the county would receive $1.6 million a year in property tax revenue. The city would collect almost $3.7 million and the district $4.7 million.

"The city feels that there should be a fair and accurate assessment and whatever the school district does, the city is supportive of it," said Margaret Lanier, treasurer for the city and the district.

For now, the casino, through no fault of its own, is "getting a tax break at everyone else's expense," Mr. Weiss said.

The district will ask the county to put an interim assessment on the property so that it can begin billing for taxes from the date an occupancy permit was issued.

But Dominick Gambino, a former county assessment manager who now is a consultant for Pittsburgh schools, said that could take some time. He said the county still hasn't completed interim assessments for 2008 on hundreds of properties in the city, delaying efforts to collect taxes in a timely manner. The county, he said, hasn't done any 2009 interim assessments for the school district yet.

"It's pretty obvious that the assessment function is not happening and that the county doesn't care about it," Mr. Weiss said, arguing the delays are "symptomatic of a broken system."

Not true, Mr. Evanto said.

One reason the county waited so long to assess the casino is that it wanted to give the complex a couple of months to get up and running so it could better gauge its income, he said.

Income is one of two methods -- the other is cost -- to value commercial properties. The county has yet to determine which method it will use. Still, until the casino opened, "we had no way of determining the income," Mr. Evanto said. Assessors, he added, have been at the site a number of times collecting data.

"This isn't like a cookie-cutter house in some massive development in the North Hills. This is very unique. We have nothing like it in Allegheny County. We are being very thorough in the assessment of that property," he said.

Mr. Evanto said the county expects to hire a consultant by Oct. 1 and have the casino's full value on the books by Jan. 15 for the 2010 tax year.

He denied that county was behind in interim assessments, saying it had finished virtually all of those for 2008 and had completed all but about 300 appeals and assessments for 2009.

The school district, Mr. Evanto said, will have the ability to collect property taxes retroactively once an interim assessment is established. Neither the county nor the city collects taxes based on interim assessments.