Clear as mud?

Allegheny County has a handy-dandy guide to find Average Increases in Value for the 2013 Court-Ordered Reassessment by Municipality & School District.

After locating the information, find out how to approximate your 2013 county, municipal and school district property taxes.

So that everything is in one thread, here are the links to the new assessments and the percentage calculator that I had on an earlier post.

The reassessments have been posted.
 http://www2.alleghenycounty.us/reval/Search.aspx This is for the 2013 tax year.

If you are mathematically challenged like me, here is a percentage calculator.

To keep it simple, Allegheny County’s average increase in value for the 2013 court-ordered reassessment is 35%. Mt. Lebanon's average increase in value for the 2013 court-ordered reassessment is 30%, according to the county website.

Reassessments 101

Marty Griffin talked about it on his show.  The PG had articles about it.  And the Allegheny Institute for Public Policy sent out A Guide to Helping Taxpayers Understand the Effects of the Reassessment.

The property reassessments are starting to hit.  We knew they were coming.  The Concerned Citizens of Mt. Lebanon circulated a petition to control the spending on the high school project. We were mocked. We were belittled. We were called fear mongers, but our school board moved forward with their plans.

Even the Judge who ordered property reassessment saw a $134,000 increase. I hope things even out with some of our elected officials. Speaking of elected officials, Joe DeIuliis was quoted in the Almanac yesterday on the municipal tax increase.

Commissioner Joseph DeIuliis, the lone commissioner who voted against the current tax hike, defended the previous tax cuts. "It was a tough time and to me, it was the prudent thing to do," he said. "People could have moved out of the area, and we wanted to keep them in Mt. Lebanon." http://www.thealmanac.net/alm/story11/12-28-2011-ML-tax-hike

Yeah, that tax cut of $16.28 kept me from moving out of Mt. Lebanon.  Go to the 43 minute mark of the 12/20/2011 Commission meeting during the citizens' comments portion of the final public hearing for the 2012 Budget. As I said in the podcast, the problem is not with the Municipality.

Every dime the School Board doesn't take from us...

Every dime the School Board doesn't take from us, the new County administration will take.  Allegheny County tax hike pondered  Funny, they waited for the election to pass to announce that.

An FYI, the Commission introduced an ordinance last night (Bill No. 24-11) to raise the millage by .71 mills to a total of  5.47 mills. The uncertainty of the reassessment process will require future modifications to this rate.

After the December 7 opening of the bids for the high school project, I am counting on money experts out there to analyze what they mean in terms of tax increases. 

Bottom line, my Dress 4 Work service project next year may be intended for Mt. Lebanon residents. Something has to give.

Reassessment Talk

At a recent school board meeting, Jan Klein was explaining the ramifications of the reassessment.  There are anti-windfall provisions that are built into the reassessment process so that school districts cannot gain significantly from a simple reassessment.

James Fraasch made an excellent presentation on the subject at an Audit/Finance Committee meeting.  He wrote about it on his blog.  Here is the link.

http://lebosbupdates.blogspot.com/2010/05/eyeing-2012-allegheny-county.html

 

It is interesting how James had an entire page listing his sources. 

Allegheny County Considers Legal Action in Reassessment Moratorium

Legislation that is allowing Washington County to put the brakes on its real estate reassessment has Allegheny County officials in an uproar and investigating their legal options.

Council President Jim Burn said the county is pushing back on the legislation signed into law last week that allows a reassessment moratorium only for Washington County.
The state House originally passed a bill that would grant a moratorium for all counties, but it was changed in the Senate to only include Washington County. State officials said Allegheny County was excluded because the reassessment process was too far along to be stopped.

Read more: Allegheny County Considers Legal Action in Reassessment Moratorium
                  Allegheny County may challenge reassessment again

I love my new porch roof, part 2.

Looking at the tax information on the Allegheny County Assessment web page, I see that I now have a partially paid tax bill due to my home improvement reassessment.  My new porch roof is costing me $1.64 more in county real estate taxes.  Allegheny County Assessment I think I will mail the payment in this time, instead of taking the T to pay my tax bill, as I did in February.  The fare would cost me almost 3 times my new tax bill. 

I love my new porch roof!

It isn't done yet, but here is the picture from the Allegheny County website of my new porch roof.  

Here is the picture I took today.  As you can see, I still need to have it stained.

I got my reassessment from the County today.  They are really on top of things.  I had a building permit, since I always go by the rules.  I am not complaining, because those who know me, know that I pay my taxes as soon as I get the tax bill.  I paid my County taxes in early February!!  I am also mindful of people paying their fair share.  I was on a committee this past summer that sent out reminders to those who did not file for a Homestead Exclusion. This is a way to reduce your assessed home value by $15,000.  We sent a letter to the owner of this home:

His home is assessed at $189,000 without the Homestead Exclusion.  With the Homestead Exclusion, this house would be assessed at $174,000.  That is only $42,400 more than my home's reassessment after my Homestead Exclusion.

Here is the current picture from the County website.  Same house.

What confuses me is that this home was purchased in 2006 for $373,000, not $189,000.  It was remodeled in 2007, (http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/07342/840060-30.stm ) and is now on the market for $674,900.  As a candidate for Commissioner of Ward 3, I have been looking at ways to generate revenue for Mt. Lebanon.  Oh wait, this house is in Ward 3.  Oh my, it is the commissioner of Ward 3's home.  And he was just endorsed by the Republican Committee.   Imagine that.

I love my house.  I really love my new porch roof and am glad I spent the money to make it the way I have always wanted it to be.  I have no regrets.  Oh, I forgot.  I am not moving either.