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Friday, May 30, 2003

By Mark Belko, Post-Gazette Staff Writer

A state agency has determined that Allegheny County's 2002 reassessment was closer to the mark than the previous year's, at least when comparing sales prices to property values.

County officials yesterday heralded the preliminary finding by the State Tax Equalization Board as evidence that the county's assessment system was improving, despite nearly 100,000 appeals last year and widespread criticism.

"This demonstrates conclusively that we had fairer assessments in 2002 than we have had at any time before in Allegheny County," county Manager Bob Webb said.

But not everybody viewed the state's finding with such high regard.

County Controller Dan Onorato, a Democrat who is running against Republican county Chief Executive Jim Roddey in November, called the preliminary number "suspect," claiming it is based on data that can be manipulated by the county.

"The STEB number is only as good as the numbers we give them. There's an old saying in the computer business -- garbage in, garbage out. If you give them sales that reflect 90 percent accuracy, you're going to get 90 percent accuracy," he said.

The number in question is calculated each year by the State Tax Equalization Board. It compares sales prices of properties against the actual assessments and computes an average.

For 2002, Allegheny County's average was 97.5 percent, the best in the state among the 20 counties which base the assessment on full market value. The calculation was made using nearly 15,000 sales submitted by the county.

In a statement, Roddey said property assessment officials gave STEB the sales the agency requested, adding STEB uses a uniform standard to calculate ratios for each county.

"The 97.5 percent ratio is contrary to the false message the controller is trying to put out regarding county assessments," Roddey said. "It's news that he doesn't want to hear. I find his attack on an independent state entity reprehensible."

The 2002 preliminary number represents an improvement over 2001, when the ratio was 94 percent.

"It tells me that as we continue to get more information from the county, that the reassessment is looking better than the numbers initially indicated," STEB Executive Director Tom Connolly said. "But again, Tom Connolly and the State Tax Equalization Board can only speak on behalf of 14,989 properties."

Webb said the county's goal is to ensure that all 550,000 properties in the county are assessed at their fair market value for the 2006 reassessment.

Last year was the first time in seven years that the deviation between sales prices and assessments was 15 percent or lower. In the years it was higher, the county, under law, was required to apply lower values to new buildings, improved buildings and properties involved in appeals.

Before 1995, the county managed to stay within the 15 percent requirement even though assessment accuracy was slipping. Disparities grew even worse after county Commissioners Larry Dunn and Bob Cranmer froze assessments in 1996, a move later ruled illegal.

The STEB preliminary finding mirrors studies by the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette and Consad Research Corp., both of which found last year's reassessment to be more accurate and fair than 2001.