BREAKING NEWS! "The Logjam Persists!" Allegheny County Tax Assessment Delayed...Yet Again!

Bill:
It is breaking news time here on I strenuously object. We're gonna, we're gonna try to move rapidly today. I know I've made and broken that promise to, to you, our listener before, but we're going to do our best to actually make good on that today with us again, because again, there's breaking news involving the tax appeal process here in Allegheny County. It's the queen herself. It's Nicole Houtman, Amick. How are you today, Nicole?

Nicole:
Hello, Bill, how are you?

Bill:
Good, good. And as much as I'd like to banter about, you know, Buffalo sports or Stanley Cup champion, Jack Eichel, or, you know, anything that might get you going on that, I think what we're gonna do is just move quickly into two different and hopefully quick kind of news takes on your end that you can update us on what's going on.

Bill:
So, you know, last time we were here, we were thinking maybe we were reaching a bit of a light at the end of the tunnel, at least with respect to the 2022 appeals, uh, that looks less true than ever today. So, uh, my first question regarding the news of the day, Nicole, how is it that the Allegheny County CLR is going to be back in front of the Commonwealth

Nicole:
You are correct that I thought we were close to the end, but alas, like most things with these appeals, it has gotten more messy and confusing. When Stebb had released the 2022 ratio by request of the Commonwealth Court, I think everyone was hopeful that was just going to be the end of it. But this week, the city of Pittsburgh School District, who is a defendant in that case, has decided to appeal that decision or that Steb ratio. Practically what that means is we are again delayed. We are again just sitting here and waiting for the courts to continue moving this at a glacial pace through the court system to further, I think, finalize, hopefully at some point the 2022 ratio.

Bill:
So there were two different cases before the Commonwealth Court. One, a direct appeal from relating to Steb last time, and one of them litigation that had come forth from the Court of Common Pleas Allegheny County. The prior Steb case was the one where the Commonwealth Court ruled and sent it back to Steb to say, Hey, like do the math in accordance with this. Basically didn't, didn't quite tell them the number, but just about told them the number, right?

Nicole:
Correct. And for the other Commonwealth Court case, so not the one relating to Steb, the one that was appealed from the Court of Common Pleas here, that we were hoping also to have some type of decision on that case, potentially giving us some further clarification. And what they've done on that case is state it, so just letting that hang out there while the Stubb case moves forward.

Bill:
And what

Nicole:
So

Bill:
we...

Nicole:
that's not going to give us any clarification. The Steb case currently has no clarification either. We now have an appeal. of that decision pending.

Bill:
Right. So, so what we had hoped and thought happened was the Commonwealth Court sent it back to Stebb to just do the math and fix the 2022 ratio and state everything else. Stebb did that. But now Steb's decision has been appealed by the taxing bodies. And here we are again, back in front of the Commonwealth Court to fight over the same 2022 ratio that they just sent back to Steb two months ago.

Nicole:
Correct. And the frustration noted in your voice is how everyone feels about this.

Bill:
Okay. Well, so the waiting game persists because I assume now the county's not going to want to schedule anything. The, the B par is not going to want to hold hearings. The cases that already had hearings, B par is not going to want to make a decision on, uh, you got bored of viewers cases out there that don't know how to settle cause they don't know what the number is going to be. That has been the case for several months. We thought things were going to kind of free up and now it looks like they're not. Is that right?

Nicole:
Yeah, so BPAR is issuing basically no decisions for 2022 still, because they're still waiting for clarification on the ratio. So not only do we have thousands of appeals pending from last year, we now have many 2022 appeals that were filed this year, many of them in conjunction with 2023 appeals that will also have no decision while we wait. Additionally, the Board of Viewers, which is the second level of this appeals process, scheduling cases that involve the 2022 tax year as we wait for a decision. Now, that doesn't mean that if there's cases pending at the board of viewers, they can't be resolved. But without scheduling, a lot of that kind of slows down as well. So practically what this is doing is just delaying thousands and thousands of decisions for property owners who are likely going to be hit with additional tax bills at some point, potentially for three years, if we end up in 2024. And it's a frustrating A frustrating process for everyone practicing in this area and everyone that's kind of wrapped up in this mess right now.

Bill:
Well, as those wheels of justice, which we thought were breaking free, grind back into a halt here, I do wanna ask, you had mentioned people who were filing 2023 appeals, that also included 2022 and the kind of extended appeal season that the county council put into place earlier this year. There's also some breaking news on that front. Can you tell us what the newest, or scratch that. Can you tell us what the breaking news is with respect to people who have appeals pending and who just have recently resolved a 2022 tax appeal case?

Nicole:
Yeah, so we had been talking before about people who had resolved board of viewers cases involving the 2022 tax year at any point last year. Many of those people, including myself, tried to file new 2022 appeals this year based on the reopened appeal process. A lot of those cases were resolved before we had any of the changes to the ratio. And what BPAR did was kick them out and said, you can't file these again. You're precluded per... previous court settlement. Allegheny County Council, who is the body that reopened 2022 appeals for all property owners, has been made aware of this issue, this kind of wrinkle and everything that's been happening. We're in uncharted waters, so to speak. So this has never happened before. So this is kind of like one of those things that came up that I don't think anyone was realizing was going to happen, but they've been made aware of this issue. They were not happy about this issue. They thought that... what they had drafted would ensure that every property owner in the county would be given the opportunity to file a 2022 appeal. So it is my understanding that at their next meeting, which is July 11th, they plan on, and again, I don't know for sure, but I believe they plan on revising the language of the legislation that they had previously issued relating to 2022 appeals to further clarify. to some extent that all property owners can file 2022 appeals to again kind of quiet that issue. If they do that, I think they're probably going to meet challenges from school districts who potentially could say, no, you can't do that. So again, more mess, more headache, more nightmare. But I don't really know how that's all going to play out yet. Again, that's my understanding of kind of what their next steps are likely to be.

Bill:
Yeah, so it's clear at this point, though they haven't drafted any or voted on any final language in this regard, it's clear that what the County Council wants to do is allow people who recently settled a case that involved their 2022 tax burden and assessments to be part of the people who are able to apply and file new appeals. What we don't know is whether or not legally they're able to do that. Right. The County Council acts that as the County itself, which is one of the taxing bodies. Uh, the County itself is one of the parties who has to agree in any board of viewers cases, uh, to the assessment that the various parties are agreeing to. Um, I can see why it might be a little bit legally weird to have the party to a case that was settled in 2022. Nevertheless, approve reopening administrative process to undo that settlement when they're a party to the settlement itself. I can see why there would be challenges, but the circumstances are unique and the county is the one who's also administering this system. So we'll see where that goes.

Nicole:
Yeah, and I mean, property owners and I filed a bunch of these appeals, including for myself, my own residence, but also on behalf of clients who I had resolved their cases in early 2022 specifically that didn't get the benefit of this lower ratio. So I think there's a fairness component to it. Again, we're in uncharted waters. It's not like... I had all the information available to me, I settled my case, and now I'm trying to get another bite of the apple by just appealing it again. That's not what's happening. Things have materially changed significantly. The ratio has potentially gone down 18%. So that's significant. And in my opinion, certainly in maybe specific situations, but all we're asking and all of the property owner advocates that were there were asking for is that a new hearing be scheduled. It's not automatically changing anything. It's not asking that the ratio be applied to settlements. All it is asking is give me the opportunity to have my case heard again. And they might deny that. That's certainly their right. But I certainly think that the opportunity to challenge it based on the material change to the factors here, I think it's a legitimate reason to reopen it for all people.

Bill:
So to recap, here's what we know. Um, the 2022 common level ratio is getting appealed. By whom? Who's doing the appealing?

Nicole:
the city of Pittsburgh School District.

Bill:
And we haven't actually seen all the filings yet. We don't know the, like the basis, aren't trying to handicap what the likelihood of the, uh, of success of this appeal is. But as long as there's an appeal pending, everything's on hold again.

Nicole:
That's my understanding, the position that BPAR and BOV is taking right now.

Bill:
And we're waiting on the county to take action consistent with what you understand from their last meeting and your awareness of it to be, to take some action to clarify what happens with people who recently settled appeals from 20.

Nicole:
Correct.

Bill:
All of which is all of which is to say we're going to be back here again real soon.

Nicole:
Correct. Maybe many, many times. Hopefully by the end of the year we'll be done, but I don't have a lot of confidence in anything being clarified anytime soon, unfortunately.

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Bill:
So not that I want to have to ask this at the end of every time we talk, but what can property owners or what should property owners be doing now?

Nicole:
Well, the only thing we can all really do right now is keep an eye on the news, keep an eye on the podcast for more breaking news updates. We're certainly going to be monitoring the situation very closely and getting some new episodes together as soon as we have anything else to report.

Bill:
When I was afraid that was the answer. Okay. Well, uh, do your

Nicole:
Oh, and

Bill:
listener.

Nicole:
also Bill, also

Bill:
Yeah.

Nicole:
Bill, let me just get in here. I don't like Jack Eichel.

Bill:
hahahaha

Nicole:
I just had to say that, thank you.

Bill:
shocking news from this expatriate of the north. So look, thanks for coming on and doing this, Nicole. Thank you, listener, for your patience and for coming along with us on what has to be without a doubt the lamest roller coaster ride in the history of roller coaster rides. We're up, we're down. There's nothing there's lots to report and nothing to do. OK, maybe the second lamest roller coaster ride. on the planet next to that one indoors at the Mall of America, which is objectively terrible. Don't go on it. That's a discourse for another time. Anyway, that should about do it for this episode of I Strenuously Object. Please subscribe, rate and review the podcast and stay tuned for more breaking and probably frustrating news. Tell your friends to check us out. Tell your friends who own property about what's going on. If you have more questions, feel free to visit our website. That's at pghfirm.com. The podcast is on Instagram. That's at iobject at pghfirm.com. Thanks again, Nicole. Thanks again, Nicole, and until next time, some parting advice.

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