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120,000 Property Owners Appeal Assessments

PITTSBURGH (KDKA) -- The waiting room at the appeals office is packed as property owners are called into hearing rooms to argue their case.

People like Kody Miller of Vandergrift call it a major inconvenience.

"How much time and effort, resources are they spending bringing people in here to do these reviews and paying people and that kind of stuff?"

County Executive Rich Fitzgerald says that preliminary numbers indicate that more than 120,000 appeals have been filed -- significantly more than the 90,000 filed during the last assessment 10 years ago.

Fitzgerald says that many more people are willing to undergo the inconvenience of appealing.

"It says to me that every time we do this, it's a disruption for people," he said. "A hundred-thousand people have to hire lawyers, have to go through this process, have to sign up, you know, take time out from work."

Carrying a price tag of $11 million, Fitzgerald says the assessment is strain on county resources and has failed to find equality in values countywide.

"I would rather take that money and put it towards paving roads, fixing bridges, improving economic development sites for jobs," Fitzgerald said.

So for the next several months, people will crowd the hallways willing to endure this process in what the county executive calls a big waste of time and money.

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