Pa. county to proceed with its first property reassessment in 20 years
The first property reassessment in Lycoming County in 20 years will proceed as planned.
That was ensured Thursday when the county commissioners approved a $3,484,620 appraisal services agreement with Tyler Technologies of Plano, Texas.
Field work that will include taking a picture of each property is expected to begin in September, said chief assessor Brooke E. Wright.
Tyler will be hiring and training people to assist with the data collection, she said.
Tyler was chosen because the county has its software, she said. It is one of two companies qualified to do a reassessment in the state, she said.
The board of commissioners in office last year voted 2-1 at their final meeting in December for countywide reassessment. Commissioner Scott L. Metzger cast the no vote.
He acknowledged then reassessment was needed but claimed the timing was bad given the state of the economy.
Metzger, the only commissioner still in office, said he asked his new colleagues, Marc C. Sortman and Mark Mussina, if they wanted to revisit the reassessment issue.
They did not so he joined them to approve the agreement with Tyler, he said. The cost of the project will be spread over three years.
Wright estimates it will take up to two years to collect data on properties. Those doing that work will not be going into homes or businesses, she explained.
The timetable is for property owners to receive a notice of their new values is March 2027 followed by three-month period for appeals.
The new values will take effect in 2028 and will be used by municipalities to set milage rates for property taxes.
The purpose of reassessment is to level the playing field on values by bringing them up to date, county officials say.
In a power point presentation for the commissioners last year Wright cited a commercial property in Williamsport that was sold for $12.5 million but its assessed value is $1.3 million.
The county alone would receive approximately $4,000 more in real estate taxes if the value was based on the sales price but spot assessment is not permitted, she said.
Reassessment is a controversial because many people falsely believe it automatically results in an increase in property taxes.
Reassessment cannot be used by any taxing body as a means to obtain increased revenue, Wright explained. It is a tool to equalize assessments to ensure all taxpayers are paying their fair share, she said.
Following reassessment, entities must set their millage rate so the amount collected equals the taxes levied the previous year, she said.
A further adjustment is permitted but it cannot generate more than 10 percent of the total amount of taxes levied the year before, she said.
The new values could result in property owners paying less in taxes, the same or more than currently, Wright said.
At least four other counties - Lackawanna, Mercer, Schuylkill and Warren – are doing reassessment, she said.
Conversely, Northumberland County has not reassessed properties since 1972 and Snyder County since 1973.