After a year of legal wrangling and court challenges, some Allegheny County property owners have been given a second chance to appeal their 2022 property assessments, and an expert says that could provide tax refunds to some of the property owners.

School districts and municipalities filed several thousand property assessment appeals in Allegheny County, resulting in owners of those properties seeing higher assessed values and, in turn, higher property tax bills.

Allegheny County Common Pleas Judge Alan Hertzberg ruled last year that Allegheny County “failed to administer the property tax assessment appeal system in a just and impartial manner.”

Those appeals to property assessments, up to 10,000 by one estimate, were put on hold.

Allegheny County officials have opened a special appeal period for property owners to challenge the appeals made by school districts or municipalities against their properties. The special appeal period for 2022 assessments is open until March 31, and it coincides with the regular 2023 appeal period.

Michael Suley, a local tax consultant and former manager of the county’s Office of Property Assessment, has been lobbying for a special appeal period. He said Allegheny County has not seen a countywide reassessment since 2012, so many school districts and municipalities will appeal the assessments of certain properties each year in hopes of seeing the assessments and property taxes owed on the related properties go up.

Homes that have sold for increases compared to their former fair market value are typically targeted, Suley said.

Those appeals led many property owners to see large increases in property taxes over the past couple of years. Suley said he consulted on a lawsuit filed by one couple who saw their property taxes double after their home was appealed.

Suley suggested that property owners who have a property assessment that is at least 50% of their fair market value should seek an appeal.

“We are going see tax refunds, even if the school districts are going to fight them tooth and nail,” Suley said.

During the appeal process, Allegheny County was using a common level ratio of 81.1% — meaning that a property seeing an appeal would have its assessment changed to about 81% of its fair market value.

Hertzberg’s ruling in September reduced the common level ratio from 81.1% to 63.5%, which should reduce the property tax bills on appealed properties.

In his ruling, Hertzberg accused school districts of “sales chasing” and said the county was “cooking the books.”

Last week, Allegheny County Council unanimously passed a bill heeding Suley’s call for a special appeal period. After the bill passed, Council President Pat Catena, D-Carnegie, said county taxpayers were being taken advantage of and he echoed Hertzberg’s criticism.

“It’s the fairest decision for every resident of Allegheny County to reopen the appeal window,” said Catena.

Allegheny County Executive Rich Fitzgerald said the special appeal window gives property owners “every opportunity to defend themselves and keep their property taxes low.”

Allegheny County property owners can file appeals online on the county’s real estate website or by completing an appeal form and emailing or mailing it to the county.

Outcomes for tax year 2022 will be carried over in 2023 if there is a change in value, but appeal filings for 2023 are not retroactive to 2022, according to a release.

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