Allegheny County residents will be taxed on their 2002 property assessments for another year.
During a hearing on Thursday, Allegheny County Judge R. Stanton Wettick ruled that newly issued property assessments would be implemented in 2013 instead of this year.
Wettick ordered that residents of the City of Pittsburgh and Mt. Oliver Borough—which already received new assessment values—are permitted to use the 2011 assessment (same as 2002's) for the purpose of setting their budgets and levying taxes for 2012.
Wettick also provided that the 2012 reassessment values be used for the 2013 tax year for those taxing bodies. According to a press release issued by the office of County Executive Rich Fitzgerald, Wettick stated that the court would decide which numbers would be used for the remaining municipalities and school districts in the county as the values are released. The press release indicated that those numbers will likely be delayed for use in the 2013 tax year, as well.
"This decision is a win for Allegheny County taxpayers," Fitzgerald said in the release. "The county has argued against using these values for months. I was thrilled last week to see the City of Pittsburgh and the Pittsburgh School Board step up and join us in this effort, and I am glad that the court finally saw sense in the argument that the county has made all along.
"That being said, I still think this process is wrong. I think that the judge overstepped his bounds, and I think that we have to continue to fight this fight."
Last week, Fitzgerald declared the reassessment numbers only to be .
Fitzgerald said that he will continue to work with county residents to fight their reassessment numbers.
"We may have won the first battle, but I am under no impression that the war is anywhere near over," he said. "I have received emails, phone calls, letters and visits from taxpayers in this county who want to help.
"The answer is simple. I'm encouraging every Allegheny County resident and business owner to join me in opposing the court-ordered reassessment."
Fitzgerald is encouraging residents to contact Gov. Tom Corbett, state senators, state representatives, municipal officials and school officials.
"Tell them that we can't continue to allow Allegheny County to be singled-out," Fitzgerald said. "Tell them that we need a moratorium on court-ordered reassessments and that we need the state to enact comprehensive legislation that will provide uniformity among all counties in the commonwealth."
This article originally appeared on the .
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