With thousands of property re-assessment appeals in process, two vacancies on the Board of Viewers have been filled. The group hears appeals of commercial and residential assessments, so it’s one step above the informal and formal appeals process, but below the Court of Common Pleas. The Board was left with two vacancies this summer when one of its members died and another resigned.
“Through a lot of effort we’ve kept up with our caseload, and actually our increased workload has not yet hit, it’s about to hit, because we’ve been waiting for the cases to come from the board of property assessment and review,” said Michelle Lally, administrative chair of the board.
Criminal Court administrator Helen Lynch and attorney Stephen Farino are the newest board members, and are expected to start in October. The county's Court of Common Pleas chose the new members.
According to the county, more than 100,000 property owners filed formal appeals of their property assessments, which are scheduled to go into effect January 1, 2013, replacing base-year values currently used for taxing purposes. The Board of Viewers also handles eminent domain cases.
