PRINTER'S NO. 1055
THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF PENNSYLVANIA
SENATE BILL
No.
877
Session of
2015
INTRODUCED BY ARGALL, TEPLITZ, SCAVELLO, RAFFERTY, VULAKOVICH,
FOLMER, SCARNATI, STEFANO, MENSCH, WAGNER AND WARD,
JUNE 16, 2015
REFERRED TO URBAN AFFAIRS AND HOUSING, JUNE 16, 2015
AN ACT
Amending Title 53 (Municipalities Generally) of the Pennsylvania
Consolidated Statutes, in consolidated county assessment,
further providing for appeals by taxing districts.
The General Assembly of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania
hereby enacts as follows:
Section 1. Section 8855 of Title 53 of the Pennsylvania
Consolidated Statutes is amended to read:
ยง 8855. Appeals by taxing districts.
[A] (a) General rule.--Subject to the provisions of
subsection (b), a taxing district shall have the right to appeal
any assessment within its jurisdiction in the same manner,
subject to the same procedure and with like effect as if the
appeal were taken by a taxable person with respect to the
assessment, and, in addition, may take an appeal from any
decision of the board or court of common pleas as though it had
been a party to the proceedings before the board or court even
though it was not a party in fact. A taxing district authority
may intervene in any appeal by a taxable person under section
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8854 (relating to appeals to court) as a matter of right.
(b) Basis of appeals.--
(1) A taxing district may not appeal the assessment of
property based on the sale of the property.
(2) A taxing authority has the right to appeal an
assessment when one or more of the following conditions are
met:
(i) the appeal is from an assessment created during
a countywide reassessment and the appeal is filed by the
first day of September of the taxable year following the
year for which the newly established values from the
countywide reassessment shall take effect;
(ii) a parcel of land is divided and conveyed away
in smaller parcels; or
(iii) a change has occurred in the productive use of
the property or parcel by material alteration in the
nature of the use or through alteration or additions
which modify the use.
(3) In the event that a taxing authority has appealed an
assessment after a countywide reassessment in violation of
paragraph (1), the affected taxable person shall have the
right to appeal and to have the assessed value changed back
to the assessed value assigned immediately prior to the
taxing authority appeal as per county records.
(4) The assessment change pursuant to the appeal as
filed by the affected taxable person shall be made by the
county assessment bureau. The appeal must be filed within
nine months after the date this subsection takes effect. A
successful appeal shall not entitle the property owner to a
refund of taxes paid in prior years based upon an assessment
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that may have been increased in violation of paragraph (1).
Section 2. This act shall take effect in 60 days.
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