PRINTER'S NO. 177
No. 165 Session of 1979
INTRODUCED BY WILSON, FEBRUARY 6, 1979
REFERRED TO COMMITTEE ON LOCAL GOVERNMENT, FEBRUARY 7, 1979
AN ACT
1 Amending the act of June 26, 1931 (P.L.1379, No.348), entitled,
2 as amended, "An act creating in counties of the second A and
3 third class a board for the assessment and revision of taxes;
4 providing for the appointment of the members of such board by
5 the county commissioners; providing for their salaries,
6 payable by the county; abolishing existing boards; defining
7 the powers and duties of such board; regulating the
8 assessment of persons, property, and occupations for county,
9 borough, town, township, school, and poor purposes;
10 authorizing the appointment of subordinate assessors, a
11 solicitor, engineers, and clerks; providing for their
12 compensation, payable by such counties; abolishing the office
13 of ward, borough, and township assessors, so far as the
14 making of assessments and valuations for taxation is
15 concerned; and providing for the acceptance of this act by
16 cities," further providing for assessment, revision and
17 appeals.
18 The General Assembly of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania
19 hereby enacts as follows:
20 Section 1. Section 1, act of June 26, 1931 (P.L.1379,
21 No.348), entitled, as amended, "An act creating in counties of
22 the second A and third class a board for the assessment and
23 revision of taxes; providing for the appointment of the members
24 of such board by the county commissioners; providing for their
25 salaries, payable by the county; abolishing existing boards;
26 defining the powers and duties of such board; regulating the
1 assessment of persons, property, and occupations for county,
2 borough, town, township, school, and poor purposes; authorizing
3 the appointment of subordinate assessors, a solicitor,
4 engineers, and clerks; providing for their compensation, payable
5 by such counties; abolishing the office of ward, borough, and
6 township assessors, so far as the making of assessments and
7 valuations for taxation is concerned; and providing for the
8 acceptance of this act by cities," amended December 14, 1967
9 (P.L.851, No.373) and November 19, 1968 (P.L.1073, No.327), is
10 amended to read:
11 Section 1. Be it enacted &c., That in all counties of the
12 second A and third class in this Commonwealth, there is hereby
13 created a board, to be known as the Board [of Assessment
14 Appeals] for the Assessment and Revision of Taxes, hereinafter
15 referred to as the board, which shall be composed of three
16 members. The members of said board shall be appointed by the
17 county commissioners of such counties to serve for terms of four
18 years each. Vacancies happening in said office shall be filled
19 by appointment by the county commissioners for the unexpired
20 terms. The salary of the members of said board shall be fixed by
21 the salary board of the county.
22 The terms of office of any persons now acting as members of
23 any such board [for the assessment and revision of taxes] in any
24 such county of the third class shall cease and terminate, and
25 the duties and terms of the borough, ward, and township
26 assessors in such counties, so far as assessments for taxation
27 are concerned, shall cease and terminate upon the passage and
28 approval of this act by the Governor.
29 Section 2. Section 8 of the act, amended October 5, 1978
30 (No.270), is amended to read:
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1 Section 8. (a) The assessment roll shall be open to public
2 inspection at the office of the board at the county seat during
3 ordinary business hours of each business day from the time of
4 completion to and including the last day of October. Within
5 fifteen days of completion of the assessment roll, the board
6 shall give notice by publication once in one or more newspapers
7 published in the county that such assessment roll has been
8 completed and the place and times when such roll will be open
9 for inspection, and shall, in the same notice, state that any
10 person desiring to appeal from any assessment shall file with
11 the [board] commission for assessment appeals, hereinafter
12 provided for, on or before the first day of September, an
13 appeal, in writing, designating the assessment appealed from.
14 (a.1) In each county there shall be a commission for
15 assessment appeals, elsewhere referred to as the commission, of
16 three persons to be appointed by the county commissioners for
17 terms of four years concurrent with their terms. One person
18 shall be a resident of the county who shall be a registered
19 voter who need have no special qualifications. The other two
20 members shall be familiar with real estate matters in the
21 county. Vacancies shall be filled by the county commissioners
22 for the unexpired terms. Salaries of members shall be fixed by
23 the salary board. The commission shall have power to hear and
24 determine appeals from assessments and revisions by the board
25 and to fix assessments after hearing appeals by orders in
26 conformity with their determinations.
27 (b) The [board] commission shall cause to be mailed to each
28 owner of property or person assessed and taxing district having
29 any interest therein, the value of whose property or personal
30 assessment has not theretofore been separately fixed or the
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1 value of whose property or personal assessment has been changed
2 from that finally fixed in the preceding assessment roll, at his
3 last known address, a notice of such change and the amount of
4 the old assessment, if the property or personal assessment was
5 previously separately assessed, and the amount of the new
6 assessment. Such notice shall be mailed within five days from
7 the date the [board] commission made such change or added said
8 property to the roll and shall state that any person aggrieved
9 by any assessment and the said taxing districts may appeal to
10 the [board] commission for trial by filing with the [board]
11 commission, within forty days of the date of such notice, an
12 appeal, in writing, designating the assessment or assessments by
13 which such person is aggrieved and the address to which notice
14 of the time and place for a hearing of the appeal shall be
15 mailed.
16 (c) Any person aggrieved by any assessment, whether or not
17 the value thereof shall have been changed since the preceding
18 annual assessment, or any taxing district having an interest
19 therein, may appeal to the [board] commission for relief. Any
20 person or such taxing district desiring to make an appeal shall,
21 on or before the first day of September, file with the [board]
22 commission an appeal, in writing, setting forth:
23 (1) The assessment or assessments by which such person feels
24 aggrieved;
25 (2) The address to which the [board] commission shall mail
26 notice of the time and place of hearing.
27 For the purpose of assessment appeals under this act, the term
28 "person" shall include, in addition to that provided by law, a
29 group of two or more persons acting on behalf of a class of
30 persons similarly situated with regard to the assessment.
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1 (d) The [board] commission shall meet for the hearing of
2 appeals and shall continue to meet for such purpose from time to
3 time until all appeals have been heard and acted upon. The
4 [board] commission shall have the power to compel the attendance
5 of witnesses and the furnishing of documents. All appeals other
6 than appeals brought under subsection (b) of this section shall
7 be heard and acted upon not later than the last day of October.
8 When an appeal has been filed, the [board] commission shall
9 notify each person and each taxing district having an interest
10 therein of the time and place of hearing on said appeal by
11 depositing such notice in the mail addressed to such person at
12 the address designated in the appeal not later than the
13 twentieth day preceding the day designated in the notice for
14 such appearance. Any person or such taxing district who shall
15 fail to appear for hearing at the time fixed shall be presumed
16 to have abandoned his appeal. When the [board] commission has
17 completed the hearing of appeals and has in each case entered
18 its order it shall make such changes in the assessment roll as
19 will make it conform to such orders.
20 (e) The [board] commission shall prepare three copies of the
21 assessment roll and deliver them on or before the fifteenth day
22 of November with its certificate that they are a true copy of
23 the original assessment roll to the following:
24 (1) One copy to the chief clerk of the county commissioners;
25 (2) One copy of such portion of the roll as contains the
26 assessment of persons or property within each school district to
27 the secretary of the board of school directors of the respective
28 school district; and
29 (3) One copy of such portion of the roll as contains the
30 assessment of persons or property within each city accepting the
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1 provisions of this act, borough, town or township, to the
2 respective city clerk, borough secretary, town clerk or
3 secretary, or township secretary. All copies of such roll so
4 furnished shall for all purposes be considered as originals. The
5 original assessment roll and the true copies may be corrected,
6 amended or changed after the fifteenth day of November as
7 circumstances may require. The said copies, in addition to the
8 information required to be shown on the original assessment
9 roll, shall provide space to the right of each assessment for
10 the entry of all taxes which may be levied thereon by the
11 respective political subdivisions. The original assessment roll
12 as corrected shall be preserved in the office of the chief
13 assessor or of the [board] commission and shall be open to
14 public inspection, subject to such regulations as the [board]
15 commission may prescribe for the preservation and safekeeping of
16 such roll.
17 (f) On or before the fifteenth day of November, the [board]
18 commission shall certify to the clerk or secretary of each
19 political subdivision coming within the scope of this act within
20 the county, the value of real property, the value of
21 occupations, and the number of persons subject to personal taxes
22 appearing in the assessment roll and taxable by the respective
23 political subdivisions.
24 (g) Notwithstanding any other provision of this section,
25 when any county proposes to institute a countywide revision of
26 assessments upon real property, the following notice
27 requirements and appeal process shall be followed:
28 (1) All property owners shall be notified by mail at their
29 last known address of the value of the new assessment and the
30 value of their old assessment.
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1 (2) All property owners shall have the right to appeal any
2 new assessment value within thirty days of receipt of notice and
3 each notice shall so state.
4 (3) The [board] commission shall mail all notices on or
5 before the first day of July. The [board] commission at its
6 discretion may commence with the hearing of appeals thirty days
7 following the mailing of the initial notices of reassessment.
8 (4) The [board] commission shall notify each person and each
9 taxing district having an interest therein, who has filed an
10 appeal, of the time and place of hearing on said appeal by
11 depositing such notice in the mail addressed to such person at
12 the address designated in the appeal not later than the
13 twentieth day preceding the day designated in the notice for
14 such appearance. Any person or such taxing district who shall
15 fail to appear for hearing at the time fixed shall be
16 conclusively presumed to have abandoned his appeal unless said
17 hearing date is re-scheduled by the mutual consent of the
18 property owner and the [board] commission.
19 (5) On or before the fifteenth day of November, the [board]
20 commission shall certify to the clerk or secretary of each
21 political subdivision coming within the scope of this act within
22 the county, the value of real property, the value of
23 occupations, and the number of persons subject to personal taxes
24 appearing in the assessment roll and taxable by the respective
25 political subdivisions.
26 (6) All appeals shall be heard and acted upon by the [board]
27 commission by not later than the last day of October.
28 Section 3. Section 8.1 of the act added February 28, 1956
29 (P.L.1194, No.370), is amended to read:
30 Section 8.1. When the board or commission shall make any
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1 change in the amount of three hundred dollars ($300) or more in
2 the assessed value of property as finally fixed in the preceding
3 assessment roll, or shall fix the valuation of property which
4 has not theretofore been separately fixed, whether such change
5 or new valuation is made before or after an appeal has been
6 heard by the board or commission or by the court of common
7 pleas, the board shall give notice of such change or new
8 valuation to the clerk of the city (if it has accepted the
9 provisions of this act) in which the assessed property is
10 located, to the secretary of the school district in which the
11 assessed property is located, and to the secretary of the
12 borough or township in which the assessed property is located.
13 The time limit within which the city, borough, township and
14 school district is entitled to appeal from the actions of the
15 board or from the decision of the court of common pleas shall
16 commence to run on the day such notice is mailed or otherwise
17 delivered.
18 Section 4. Section 9 of the act, amended August 5, 1977
19 (P.L.182, No.48), subsection (c) added October 5, 1978 (No.270),
20 and subsection (a) repealed in part April 28, 1978 (No.53), is
21 amended to read:
22 Section 9. (a) In the case of real property, the court
23 shall determine, from the evidence submitted at the hearing,
24 what ratio of assessed value to actual value was used generally
25 in the taxing district, and the court shall direct the
26 application of the ratio so found to the value of the property
27 which is the subject matter of the appeal, and such shall be the
28 assessment.
29 (b) In any appeal by a taxable from an action by the board,
30 or commission the board or commission shall have the power and
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1 duty to present a prima facie case in support of its assessment,
2 to cross-examine the taxable's witnesses, to discredit or
3 impeach any evidence presented by the taxable, to prosecute or
4 defend an appeal in any appellate court, and to take any other
5 necessary steps to defend its valuation, assessment and
6 assessment ratio.
7 (c) If a taxpayer has filed an appeal from an assessment, so
8 long as the appeal is pending before the [board] commission or
9 before a court on appeal from the determination of the [board]
10 commission, as provided by statute, the appeal will also be
11 taken as an appeal by the taxpayer on the subject property for
12 any valuation for any assessment subsequent to the filing of
13 such appeal with the [board] commission and prior to the
14 determination of the appeal by the [board] commission or the
15 court. The [board] commission shall hold its hearings and make
16 its final determination of the subsequent years in question in
17 the same manner as for the year or years for which the original
18 appeal was filed. This provision shall be applicable to all
19 pending appeals as well as future appeals.
20 Section 5. Section 11 of the act, amended June 25, 1968
21 (P.L.258, No.122), is amended to read:
22 Section 11. All notices required by this act may be served
23 in the manner following, anything herein contained to the
24 contrary notwithstanding: Upon the taxable personally, or upon
25 an adult person residing upon the property assessed or by
26 posting upon the property assessed when it is vacant or
27 unoccupied, or by notice mailed to the last known address of the
28 taxable.
29 No defect in service of any such notice shall be sufficient
30 ground for setting any assessment aside, but, upon proof thereof
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1 being made, the taxable person or taxing district shall have the
2 right to a hearing before said board or commission relative to
3 said assessment, with the same right of appeal from its decision
4 as provided in section eight of this act.
5 Section 6. Section 18 of the act, amended June 25, 1968
6 (P.L.258, No.122) and partly repealed June 3, 1971 (P.L.118,
7 No.6), is amended to read:
8 Section 18. The corporate authorities of any borough, town,
9 township, school, institution and poor district, and county, who
10 may feel aggrieved by any assessment of property or subjects of
11 taxation for its corporate purposes, shall have the right to
12 appeal therefrom in entirety or by individual assessments in the
13 same manner, subject to the same procedure, and with like effect
14 as if such appeal were taken by a taxable with respect to his
15 assessment, and in addition may take an appeal from any decision
16 of the board or commission or court of common pleas as though it
17 had been a party to the proceedings before such board or court
18 even though it was not such a party in fact. Such authorities
19 may intervene in any appeal by a taxable under section 9 of this
20 act as a matter of right.
21 Section 7. This act shall take effect in 60 days.
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