Fitzgerald tosses reassessments; county will use 2002 data
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New Allegheny County Executive Rich Fitzgerald announced this afternoon he will not use new court-ordered property assessment numbers.
That means Pittsburgh property owners can ignore the new assessment notices they received last month, Mr. Fitzgerald said at a news conference this afternoon.
The county instead has certified the use of the 2002 values for this year, Mr. Fitzgerald said, and will continue to push for a statewide assessment system that he thinks would be more fair.
His action appears to defy a court order from Judge R. Stanton Wettick Jr., who ordered the reassessment. In all previous meetings to discuss assessment, the judge has been adamant about using the new numbers this year to set property tax rates for the city, the county and all other municipalities and school districts.
Asked if he was worried about going to jail for defying a court order, Mr. Fitzgerald said he believes he is following state law.
"What I'm worried about is taxpayers losing their homes," he said.
Mr. Fitzgerald was surrounded by two dozen Pittsburgh, county and state leaders -- Democrats and Republicans -- when he made the announcement.
Like his predecessor, Dan Onorato, Mr. Fitzgerald said it is unfair that counties surrounding Allegheny haven't reassessed property in decades.
Mr. Fitzgerald said his action would meet the state requirement that the county certify and send out to taxing bodies all assessment numbers by Jan. 15. Because the assessment has not yet been completed -- only Pittsburgh and Mount Oliver residents have received certified numbers thus far -- he concluded that the 2002 numbers should continue to be used.
PG VIDEOAll informal hearings on new assessment numbers are ending, he said. People who are scheduled for hearings on their new assessment numbers need not show up for those hearings, he said.
First Published January 5, 2012 11:38 am
