Lawyers met in court for the first time Friday to argue a Pittsburgh Public Schools lawsuit meant to force a countywide reassessment. If attorneys for Allegheny County have their way, it might be the last time they meet as well.
The school district filed suit this past spring, arguing that the county is violating the state constitution’s uniformity clause, which requires local and state taxes to be applied consistently. The district contends that property values have gotten too far out of whack since the last countywide reassessment took place, in 2012.
But on Friday, Assistant County Solicitor Virginia Scott asked that the case be tossed out.
“It’s not up to Allegheny County to fix their revenue problems,” she told Armstrong County Common Pleas Senior Judge Kenneth Valasek, who heard about 90 minutes of argument from both sides Friday. Valasek was assigned the case after all other Allegheny County judges recused themselves.
Scott said that the district’s proposed solution — a countywide reassessment — would affect the whole county, including homes outside the city that the district doesn’t serve. She argued it was the job of the state legislature to address concerns that the current tax assessment system is unfair.
Scott maintained that PPS doesn’t have a legal right to bring the suit. A plaintiff must demonstrate they have suffered harm in order to file a suit, and Scott said it was “just not accurate” to say that had happened here. The district can always appeal individual property assessments if they’re concerned about revenue, she said.
PPS attorney Megan Turnbull countered that the district’s suit isn’t just legally permissible, but necessary. She said the lack of regular reassessment meant valuations had become “inconsistent” and “inequitable,” in violation of a constitutional requirement that taxpayers be treated uniformly.
The county, she argued, has an “obligation to ensure a constitutionally appropriate tax assessment system” — and no one else can do so.
“No other municipality or district can do that. A taxpayer cannot fix the system,” Turnbull said.
The district’s financial health may well be at stake. In the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, assessment appeals filed by commercial property owners downtown have been approved by the county’s Board of Property Assessments and Appeals Review (BPAAR). As a result, PPS has been compelled to pay upwards of $20 million in tax refunds, adding to other fiscal woes. District officials hope a broader reassessment could capture increased values in other properties, helping to weather the storm.
But the suit, Turnbull said, is about “something… more noble” than trying to increase revenue. “It’s about making the system fair, which it currently isn’t.”
Valasek is expected to rule on the county’s motion to toss the case out later this fall.
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