Letter to the editor: Transparency needed for Allegheny County assessment process

The Allegheny County real estate website provides information to all property owners regarding their assessments. It is also used by taxing bodies to jack up taxes on unsuspecting recent homebuyers. For many years, appeals board hearing officers have given much weight to website sales comparables prepared by an outside firm.

A recent lawsuit alleges county mischief in the way sales are coded. County assessors determined only 5,355 transfers were valid. Real estate brokers sold about three times (15,000) that amount in 2020. This means that two out of three transfers were coded as invalid.

Allegheny County should put homebuyers on a level playing field with the school districts targeting them. County lawmakers can do this by publishing the results of the assessor sales validation process on the website. If a state-certified assessor determines a sale is invalid, this should carry more weight than the taxing bodies’ noncertified sales comparables.

It’s simple: The county must enact an ordinance requiring the assessors’ work product on the county website. This field would state whether the sales transfer is an arm’s length transaction or invalid. Presently, the Homestead field has a simple “yes” or “no” entry that is easy to understand. The new field can be simplified with a “yes” or “no” entry. A new homebuyer can use this information to fight the school districts on appeal.

Publishing this information would be helpful to everyone. The assessment office could easily publish this now. Allegheny County Council can make this transparent — instead of hiding it on its internal database.

Mike Suley

Scott

The writer is a real estate and tax assessment consultant.