Another fine mess

Assessments are in the news again. Mt. Lebanon resident and Lebo Citizens reader, Mike Suley offers advice to the newcomers going through the appeals process.

Properties sold in 2013 fetched a price that averaged about 10 percent higher than their 2012 assessed value, according to tentative figures released by the state Tax Equalization Division. Property owners could use that to appeal for a lower assessment.

Gap between property values, sales a homeowner's boon in Allegheny County

“What it says is that properties are appreciating at such a rapid clip that we are almost back to where we started before the reassessment,” said Michael Suley, a real estate consultant and former manager of the Allegheny County Office of Property Assessment. “Every taxpayer should use that argument in the appeals process.”

Another fine mess to add to the Commission's legacy.

Addicted to Revenue UPDATED 2X

The following Letter to the Editor appeared in the April 3, 2014 edition of the PG.

Mt. Lebanon school board President Elaine Cappucci was recently quoted as saying that if the school district did not raise taxes (again), the Mt. Lebanon schools would be “decimated.” Mt. Lebanon has repeatedly raised taxes on its residents over the past several years, either through millage increases or by targeting individual property owners in court for higher tax assessments. Recently, in collaboration with the township, a legal group was hired to go after 150 new residents who bought their homes in 2011 and 2012 for higher tax assessments via what amounts to a “newcomer’s tax.”

First, Ms. Cappucci’s hyperbolic comment about the state of Mt. Lebanon schools is manipulative and irresponsible. Mt. Lebanon has good teachers and kids who largely have support at home; there is no risk of imminent decimation. Having worked in schools in New York and Detroit, I have seen decimated schools. Kids come to school abused and hungry. Teachers are unsupported and ill-trained. The physical environment is not only unpleasant but dangerous. Mt. Lebanon’s schools will not be decimated if taxes are not raised. It is just that school officials will need to make choices they are not used to making (while 95 percent of school districts around the country would love to be even in their pared-down condition).

Further, Mt. Lebanon Commissioner David Brumfield wants to expand unfair taxing from buyers of homes in 2011-2012 to those who bought in 2006-2010 and 2013. At a recent meeting, he expressed happiness with the fact that such a move would raise an additional $14 million. But who authorized a budget increase of $14 million? What do they need all that money for? And do Mt. Lebanon residents ever get to say “enough is enough”?

The township’s budget already has increased from just under $40 million in 2011 to just under $50 million in 2013. The school district’s proposed budget for 2014-15 is $94 million. This is approximately $144 million to run the schools and municipality in a midsized suburban community in Western Pennsylvania — an annual budget larger than that of some entire nations.

Like an addict whose solitary goal increasingly becomes getting cash for the next fix, Mt. Lebanon has become addicted to revenue and has shown an increased willingness to achieve the intake of public dollars at all costs. But if Mt. Lebanon does not quell its appetite for the people’s cash, the one thing that will be decimated is the idea that this particular community in the South Hills is a good place to move to and live.

JASON MARGOLIS
Mt. Lebanon

Update April 3, 2014 10:20 AM The following letter to the editor appeared in 04.02.14 edition of The Almanac. Lebo assessments grossly unfair (Saved in Google Docs)

Update April 3, 2014 4:18 PM  The letter in the first update states that there are homes with garages that were assessed improperly. The county database has more fields than what is published on the county website. The website will only show garages that are part of the dwelling. If a garage is attached or detached it will have a “0” after garage on the website. In most cases the county assessed the detached and attached garage and has that information on the property record card. The property record card can be purchased for .25 per page. Contact the county at 412-350-4600 to inquire about obtaining a property record card on any property in Allegheny County.

This is valuable information. Why? If the property record card is wrong, your tax bill is wrong!

Assessments and Regressive Property Taxes - Open Letter

The following is an open letter to Dave Brumfield from Lebo Citizens reader and Mt. Lebanon resident, Steve Diaz.

Dave: I write this open letter to you this morning after reading about the hearing on Tuesday about property tax assessment appeals taken against residents by the municipality. This is a matter of justice, fairness, and just doing the right thing.

First, I notice that you are quoted in the paper as saying that the more recent the sale of a home, the closer to sales price the assessment should be. This is an opaque comment, but reveals a serious flaw. If, as you are reported as having said, the difference in assessments is in the six figure range for homes recent sold over those with longer-term residents, then you must admit that the system is inherently unfair and unreasonable. For example, how long have you lived in your home? Would you volunteer to file an appeal of your own assessment to see it raised to its current "market value"? Do you think that if you sold your home it would be reasonable for the buyer to pay taxes on an assessment that is six figures higher than that on which you are paying? Or, put another way, is it fair for you not to pay property taxes on the same current "market value" that you would expect any buyer of your home to pay? You see it is a case of whose ox gets gored: so long as you can live with an outdated low (hence unfair) valuation, you don't care if someone else is taxed on an unjust higher basis than you are. I recently asked you if you would file an appeal to raise your own taxes, and your response was "Why would I do that?" Well, I agree that none of us wants our assessment increased -- and it is not reasonable of you to insist that some pay based of "market value" (meaning sales price) and some on another basis (by the way, "sales price" is not the standard, as you know -- even though "sales price" is the basis for assessment that the municipality argues in the property assessment appeals it files against its citizens). If market value is to be the measure, why should you not pay property taxes based on a current market value assessment like any new buyer? You see, this is one way in which the local governments (the municipality and the school district) enforce inequality and unfairness in order to support their profligate and excessive spending, without feeling the pinch themselves personally. This is a case of moral and ethical callousness towards your fellow citizens that is unworthy of a public official; you are a lawyer, are you not concerned with Equal Protection of the Law?

Second, property taxes are, in their nature, regressive. As you know, property taxes are a holdover from the Middle Ages when such taxes were imposed on the premise that the ownership of land implied income (or ability to pay), predicated on the agricultural nature of European society hundreds of years ago. Today, it is simply ridiculous to assume that living in a home is any measure of "ability to pay." We receive no rents from tenant farmers, or from our own farming (even if we can legally keep half a dozen chickens in Mt. Lebanon). Moreover, many of our residents are seniors living on fixed incomes. There is no reason for "ability to pay" taxes -- such as sales taxes (which are used for the purpose in Europe today), or income taxes (which reflect actual cash flow) should not replace property taxes entirely for single family residential property. Yet, I hear no clammer for such reform from municipal hall.

Third, the school district is in deficit because of its own excessive spending (which you are known to support). The municipality is not far behind. To rectify such spending errors, public entities should be forced to go into bankruptcy, as individuals who incur debts they cannot repay must do --- not drive the local citizens into individual bankruptcy or foreclosure because we cannot afford the overspending of undisciplined public officials who seek to spend other people's money too freely, or to buy reelection by pandering to political "wants" in excess of the means of the community.

I appeal to your own sense of fairness and common sense -- stop the abuse of municipal appeals of assessments on home resale, unless you are prepared to live by the same measure of taxable equity as everyone else.

Respectfully. Steve.

PS. I note that your public posture and your private assurances to citizens are not always the same -- why? SD

Steven A. Diaz
Mt. Lebanon Resident and Taxpayer.

What was your first clue, Kristen?

Lebo Lebo commission tables zoning change after outspoken criticism by The Almanac's Nick Lewandowski

Commenting on the decision to table the motion, commission president Linfante expressed a continued commitment to transparency. “I recognize some of you may not trust us,” she said.

I couldn't help but laugh when I read Kristen Linfante's quote.  What tipped you off? Was it when you lied about the ESB's position on artificial turf? Was it the emails in my RTK where you stated that you would apologize for misrepresenting the ESB? Was it how you pulled a fast one with your nomination petition? Uh, when you said that no one in your family plays sports, yet I hear that your son has quite a pitching arm for baseball? Could it be your deer incident report? How about trying to get a straight answer about Steve Feller asking you for your personal emails for my RTK request? And of course, there is that tiny issue about moving to Mt. Lebanon in 2005, and the new assessment window begins a little less than four months later. Were you even unpacked? And that is just what you have done.

Looks like it is going to be a fun night tonight!

I think it is going to be a little crowded tonight in the Commission Chambers. Bill Zlatos' article in the Trib, Assessment appeals draw Mt. Lebanon residents' ire Some residents who bought their homes in 2011 and 2012 have organized and will come to tonight's meeting. 

... is among 150 recent homebuyers who consider themselves unfairly targeted by what they call the “Mt. Lebanon Newcomer's Tax.” The municipality last year appealed the assessments of about 150 properties purchased between 2011 and 2012 in which the sale price was at least $48,000 more than the assessment.

Couple this news with my "Leboleaks" and toxic artificial turf, it may be a little crowded tonight.  Aww. Too bad.