Mt. Lebanon Commissioners are pulling the trigger

Michael Suley is my hero!! Does that name ring a bell? He wrote this letter to the editor of The Almanac, Lebo reassessment proposal pits neighbor against neighbor. (Saved in Google Docs) Mr. Suley spoke at the commission meeting tonight. I uploaded the podcast, which was recorded by two volunteers. Thank you, Guys. The podcast is available here on Lebocitizens.com. Mr. Suley speaks at the 00:16:30 time stamp.

Mr. Suley sympathized with a previous speaker who was caught up in the newcomers tax. He said that the commissioners should apologize to the newcomers and asked for the commissioners to withdraw the appeals. Suley identified the problem by comparing Dave Brumfield's house on Crystal with neighbors' homes. He also focused on Roycroft and Arden, Linfante's and Bendel's streets respectively. A homeowner on Roycroft is paying $500 more A MONTH for a similar home on the same street. John Bendel asked Mike to wrap up his comments, but then you hear Brumfield interrupting him. I love how Suley pointed out, while VP Bendel had asked him to wrap it up, Brumfield was stammering away (my words, not his.) 

Thank you, Mike, for highlighting the problem and offering solutions. He disagreed with Dave Brumfield's quote in the paper that it was the County pulling the trigger. Suley corrected Brumfield by saying that the commissioners are pulling the trigger. 

Suley is past vice-chair of the Allegheny County appeals board and also was the manager of the Office of Property Assessments. 

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.

Allegheny Co. tax appeal deadlines are unfair

On October 20, 2014, our school board will be voting to approve tax refunds for 70 Mt. Lebanon taxpayers.

List of Tax Refunds
– The list of tax refunds totals $80,364.27 for 70 refunds. The list has been reviewed by the solicitor’s office and is recommended for approval. The Superintendent recommends approval of this list.

Lebo Citizens reader and former manager of Allegheny County’s Office of Property Assessments, Mike Suley wrote this opinion piece in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.


Allegheny Co. tax appeal deadlines are unfair

No other county in Pennsylvania forces you to pay taxes before your tax assessment appeal is resolved

October 14, 2014 12:00 AM

Allegheny County is the only county in Pennsylvania that forces you to pay taxes before your tax assessment appeal is resolved. For example, the appeal deadline in Allegheny County is March 31, 2015, for the 2015 tax year, yet 2015 county, Pittsburgh and city school district bills will be mailed out before the appeals deadline. It’s not fair to pay first and appeal later. There are city residents still waiting on retroactive appeal decisions for this tax year.

Under home rule, the appeal deadline has been changed at least 20 times. In 2013 the county changed the deadline again to give property owners and taxing bodies a “second chance” to appeal for the same tax year because a prior county ordinance permitted appeals before the tax bills went out. This was done even though tens of thousands of the previous appeals were unresolved and awaiting disposition going into the 2013 tax year.

Allegheny County politicians have complained for years that the county’s citizens should be on a level playing field with other counties. We’re not. It’s time to have an appeals deadline with resolution before the tax bills go out.

MIKE SULEY
Mt. Lebanon

The writer, an assessment consultant, is former manager of Allegheny County’s Office of Property Assessments.

So cool, Mike!

If the name Mike Suley sounds familiar, it is because he spoke many times before the Mt. Lebanon commission concerning the "Newcomers Tax." Mike, a former Mt. Lebanon resident, was the former manager of Allegheny County's Office of Property Assessments and wrote letters to the editor about the unfair practice. But his impactful letter writing began as early as 1969, when he wrote to President Richard Nixon, then-U.S. Sens. Richard Schweiker and Hugh Scott, and Astronaut Neil Armstrong. Suley felt that the Apollo 11 crew should plant an American flag on the moon. Neil Armstrong agreed and the rest is history! 

Scott resident part of first Lunar Landing history

If Kristen is going to write that check...

The new amount is $5600. That is after the new asking price reduction.

Looking at the homes on Roycroft, the commissioners appealed six (6) homes for this year. They appealed two last year.

2014 Mt. Lebo Appeals

1. 25 Roycroft based on 2007 sale
2. 51 Roycroft
3. 55 Roycroft
4. 65 Roycroft based on 2006 sale
5. 73 Roycroft
6. 80 Roycroft based on 2008 sale


2013 Mt. Lebo Appeals

1. 30 Roycroft increased to sale price of $560000
2. 56 Roycroft increased to sale price of $427000

Here's the kicker. Remember this anti-turf sign destroyed on Roycroft?

It was ripped out of the yard of one of the homes that the commissioners appealed. The Roycroft Block Party will be very interesting this year. Write the damn check, Kristen.

Update May 27, 2014 7:51 AM Not everyone can avoid writing the check, so Mike Suley, former manager of Allegheny County’s Office of Property Assessments, former member of the county’s Board of Property Assessment, Appeals and Review, and Lebo Citizens reader, offers this solution in his Post-Gazette Letter to the Editor, Overassessed homeowners should pay taxes under protest.

From the same people who bring you toxic turf, comes this FAQ for Newcomers UPDATED 3X

Mt. Lebanon has just issued this friendly Mt. Lebanon Assessment Appeal Program FAQ. They saved the best for last.

Q: Will Mt. Lebanon continue the appeals program next year?
A: The Commission has not yet made that determination.

What? Kristen Linfante bought her house in 2005. Steve Silverman bought his house in 2005. They stopped at 2006. They have not made the determination to continue the appeals program next year? No wonder Dave Brumfield was speechless when asked to define the word, "Fairness."

Mike Suley submitted this opinion piece to The Trib, Disclose appeal formulas. I have not heard anything about last night's Newcomer's Tax meeting, which was scheduled concurrently with the educational forum on artificial turf. Some may say that John Bendel left the educational forum early to attend the Newcomer's Tax meeting, but he left well before the start of the Newcomer's Tax meeting.

Newcomers, care to comment on your meeting last night? Would you consider signing a petition on say...halting spending surplus tax dollars on artificial turf voted by Kristen Linfante, Dave Brumfield, John Bendel, and supported by Steve Silverman? Keep in mind how President Linfante treated you at commission meetings. FYI, Dave Brumfield has wanted artificial turf for years and has found just the way to fund it.

Please sign this petition if you want to halt public funds for use of artificial turf at Wildcat and Middle Fields.

Update May 2, 2014 7:01 AM Why is Commissioner Linfante's underassessed house on the market?

http://85roycroftavenue.howardhanna.com  

Update May 4, 2014 5:45 PM Newcomers, don't miss Susan Morgans' editorial in this month's mtl Magazine.

Update May 6, 2014 11:15 AM Assessment games: Allegheny County's failure to produce and maintain a fair and regular system of property tax assessments — and, in some instances, actively working to undermine that system — has produced what you might expect: local municipalities and school districts attempting to use the appeals process to engage in nothing less than spot assessment. This end around is dubious public policy and has the perverse effect of not only pitting neighbor against neighbor but perpetuating unconstitutional taxation. All of this nonsense must stop.