Property Assessments To Hit City Of Pittsburgh First

PITTSBURGH (KDKA) -- After years of delays, assessment notices are coming.

The new property values will determine how much you will be paying in real estate taxes to your municipality, your school district and the county.

Today in court, Judge R. Stanton Wettick said he would make sure those new values begin appearing in early December even though the county says it's having trouble meeting that deadline.

"They haven't done what they were told to do, what they said they could do," said Ira Weiss, the solicitor for Pittsburgh's Public Schools.

Lawyers for the Pittsburgh school district accuse the county of foot-dragging, but the county -- which had opposed the reassessment -- says it's now spent $8 million on it and is working full bore to get it done.

"So we're not dragging our feet by any means," said Jim Flynn, the county manager.

But Wettick is demanding they pull out all stops.

Since city schools start collecting their taxes in the beginning of the year, Wettick is demanding assessors now shift all efforts to assessing the city and over some objections, possibly depriving city residents of an informal review of those assessment before they begin paying a new tax rate.

"I believe everybody should have an informal review," Flynn said.

But once the notices do go out, expect homeowners to crowd appeals offices trying to get their assessments lowered.

The county, which never wanted the task, expects up to 100,000 appeals.

"It's coming," said Weiss.

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