County Officials Ordered to Continue with Reassessment Process

Allegheny County Judge R. Stanton Wettick has ordered county residents to abide by new property reassessments and county officials to continue working on the process.

On Tuesday, Wettick said that residents who have already received new assessments must abide by them, despite last week's declaration by that the numbers were 

According to WPXI, Wettick decided not to hold Fitzgerald in contempt of court, but Wettick said that he would hold county officials in contempt if they do not move forward with the reassessment process.

On Wednesday, Wettick is scheduled to vote on a request from the Pittsburgh City Council to delay using the values for another year, according to WPXI.

“This order is just more evidence of the court overreaching its bounds,” Fitzgerald said in a statement. “This is an unelected judge, who is not even standing for retention and chose, instead, to go into senior judge status, who is now acting as the executive and legislative bodies of this county.

“If the court believes that removing the elected officials from this process and requiring county staff to report to him directly will result in my stopping this fight—the court can think again. I was elected, as was county council, to make policy and legislative decisions for this county. I took an oath to uphold the laws of the commonwealth, not go around them as the court is dictating that the staff to do, by pushing forward with this reassessment.

“I can assure taxpayers that we are evaluating this order and will continue to explore each and every avenue that is available to fight this Allegheny County-only reassessment.”

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