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Allegheny County Reassessment Ordered: What Property Owners Should Do Now
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October 22, 2026
📚 Historical article. This post reflects the law and County procedures when it was written. Deadlines, the Common Level Ratio and hearing rules have changed, and a new countywide reassessment has been ordered.
Read the current 2027 Tax Appeal Guide →Reassessment Guide →Originally published June 14, 2012. Updated October 2026.
By June 2012, the Office of Property Assessments was reporting final numbers on reassessment appeals. Here is where things stood at the time.
More than 68,000 informal appeals were filed. All were heard by June 1, 2012, but almost half had not yet produced an official decision. Owners who filed informal appeals had to wait for those decisions before moving on to formal appeals.
More than 100,000 formal appeals were filed by commercial and residential owners. Officials expected many to be withdrawn by owners satisfied with informal reductions. Only about 20% had been heard.
David Montgomery, solicitor for the Board of Property Assessment Appeals and Review (BPAAR), said scheduling and hearings would increase sharply starting July 1, 2012. The BPAAR was hiring ten temporary staff, and the County had renovated the basement of the County Office Building to add hearing rooms. Owners who had filed 2013 formal appeals could expect hearings between July 1 and December 1, 2012.
Judge R. Stanton Wettick set a December 17, 2012 deadline to resolve all 2013 appeals. The County said it could comply. The new values had been delayed until 2013 precisely so appeals could be decided before the values were used for taxes, letting taxing bodies set budgets on accurate numbers.
In state news, House Bill 1776, the “Property Tax Independence Act,” was tabled after the House Finance Committee failed to act on it. The bill proposed eliminating school property taxes and replacing the revenue with higher sales and personal income taxes. About $10 billion in revenue was at stake statewide. Legislators raised concerns about taxing food and clothing, which have traditionally been exempt from sales tax in Pennsylvania. Many House members viewed the tabling as the end of the bill.
Call Nicole Hauptman Amick or Noah Fardo at 412-802-6666, text 412-855-5511, email info@pghfirm.com, or send us a message.
