Allegheny County Reassessment – Average Values By Municipality and School District Now Available Online!

The Allegheny County Office of Property Assessment has added a section to its website that allows you to view the average increase in 2013 property reassessment values broken down by municipality and school district.  This information will be helpful to anyone out there who is on the fence about whether to appeal their 2013 property reassessment.

It’s important to remember that your property tax is made up of three components: county, municipality, and school district.  The county portion of the tax is currently 5.69 mills (1 mill equals 0.1%).  The Office of Property Assessment states that the average increase in value for the 2013 court-ordered reassessment in Allegheny County is 35%.  In theory, if your 2013 property reassessment increase is less than 35%, you should see a reduction in the county portion of your property taxes for 2013.

You will also want to check the average increases for your municipality and school district.  As the majority of your real estate tax is made up of school taxes, this average increase of reassessment values in your school district is most important.  As with the county portion of your real estate taxes, if your 2013 property reassessment increase is less than the average increase for your municipality or school district, in theory you should see a reduction in your corresponding municipality or school district property taxes for 2013.

The current numbers will only provide you with an estimate.  The ultimate values will depend on the outcome of thousands of 2013 property reassessment appeals filed by both residential and commercial property owners, as well as the final adjustment of millage rates for 2013 by the taxing bodies.  If you are at or near the average levels for the county, your municipality, or school district, you should probably estimate conservatively and expect that your property taxes will increase in 2013.

If you are considering appealing your reassessment and have questions, please feel free to contact me at (412) 414-9889 or steve@sphotolaw.com

Author: Steve Photopoulos

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