THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF PENNSYLVANIA

SENATE BILL

INTRODUCED BY YAW, KASUNIC, MENSCH AND WOZNIAK, MARCH 7, 2011

REFERRED TO FINANCE, MARCH 7, 2011  

AN ACT

Amending Title 53 (Municipalities Generally) of the Pennsylvania

Consolidated Statutes, in consolidated county assessment,

further providing for subjects of local taxation, for changes

in assessed valuation, for assessment of lands divided by

boundary lines and for separate assessment of coal and

surface.

The General Assembly of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania

hereby enacts as follows:

Section 1.  Sections 8811(a), 8817, 8818(e) and 8819 of Title

53 of the Pennsylvania Consolidated Statutes, added October 27,

2010 (P.L.895, No.93), are amended to read:

§ 8811.  Subjects of local taxation.

(a)  Subjects of taxation enumerated.--Except as provided in

subsection (b), all subjects and property made taxable by the

laws of this Commonwealth for county, city, borough, town,

township and school district purposes shall, as provided in this

chapter, be valued and assessed at the annual rates, including

all:

(1)  Real estate, namely:

(i)  houses;

(ii)  house trailers and mobile homes permanently

attached to land or connected with water, gas, electric

or sewage facilities;

(iii)  buildings permanently attached to land or

connected with water, gas, electric or sewage facilities;

(iv)  lands, lots of ground and ground rents, trailer

parks and parking lots;

(v)  mills and manufactories of all kinds, furnaces,

forges, bloomeries, distilleries, sugar houses, malt

houses, breweries, tan yards, fisheries, ferries and

wharves;

(vi)  all office buildings;

(vii)  that portion of a steel, lead, aluminum or

like melting and continuous casting structure which

encloses or provides shelter or protection from the

elements for the various machinery, tools, appliances,

equipment, materials or products involved in the mill,

mine, manufactory or industrial process; [and]

(viii)  telecommunication towers that have become

affixed to land[.]; and

(ix)  Natural gas royalty interests derived from the

Marcellus Shale, irrespective of the well location.

(2)  All other things now taxable by the laws of this

Commonwealth for taxing districts.

* * *

§ 8817.  Changes in assessed valuation.

(a)  [General rule] When authorized.--

(1)  In addition to other authorization provided in this

chapter, the assessors may change the assessed valuation on

real property when a parcel of land is subdivided into

smaller parcels or when improvements are made to real

property or existing improvements are removed from real

property or are destroyed.

(2)  The recording of a subdivision plan shall not

constitute grounds for assessment increases until lots are

sold or improvements are installed.

(3)  The painting of a building or the normal regular

repairs to a building aggregating $2,500 or less in value

annually shall not be deemed cause for a change in valuation.

(a.1)  Marcellus Shale royalty interests.--The assessors

shall change the assessed valuation on natural gas royalty

interests derived from the Marcellus Shale on an annual basis.

(b)  Construction.--A change in the assessed valuation on

real property authorized or required by this section shall not

be construed as a spot reassessment under section 8843 (relating

to spot reassessment).

§ 8818.  Assessment of lands divided by boundary lines.

* * *

(e)  Assessment of coal and natural gas underlying lands

divided by county, city, township or borough boundary lines.--

Where coal or, from the Marcellus Shale, natural gas is lying

underneath lands that are divided by county, city, township or

borough lines, and the ownership of the coal or natural gas has

been severed from the ownership of the strata or surface, the

county assessment office shall assess each division of coal or

natural gas in the municipality in which it actually lies.

§ 8819.  Separate assessment of [coal] minerals and surface.

(a)  Coal.--The county assessment office shall assess coal

and surface separately in cases where the owner or life tenant

of land does not have the right to mine the coal underlying the

surface.

(b)  Marcellus Shale royalty interests.--The county

assessment office shall assess natural gas royalty interests

derived from the Marcellus Shale separately in cases where the

owner or life tenant of land does not have the right to extract

the natural gas underlying the surface.

Section 2.  This act shall take effect in 60 days.