[Added 6-27-2000 by Ord. No. 15-00;
amended 12-11-2001 by Ord. No. 80-01]
The Office of Property Assessment, through the
Chief Assessment Officer, shall make and supervise the making of all
assessments and valuations of all subjects of real property taxation
and make the determination of tax exempt status for any parcel of
real property. The Office of Property Assessment, through the Chief
Assessment Officer, shall also make such other assessment and exemption
determinations as required by other applicable laws. The Chief Assessment
Officer shall play a key role by providing technical expertise, experience
and knowledge to accomplish all these functions.
The Office of Property Assessments shall be
in the Executive Branch of County government.
All employees of the Office of Property Assessment
shall abide by the Accountability, Conduct and Ethics Code,[1] by the County fiscal procedures set forth in Article VIII
of this Administrative Code, by the purchasing policy and procedures
set forth in Article IX of this Administrative Code and by the personnel
procedures set forth in Article X of this Administrative Code.
[1]
Editor's Note: See Article 1013 of this chapter.
The Office of Property Assessment shall:
A.
Establish internal policies, practices and procedures
within a time period deemed prudent in order to implement and maintain
a computer assisted mass assessment system in the County;
B.
Ensure that notices of changes in assessments based
on the Office's monthly determinations of assessments on new or improved
property are sent to all taxing jurisdictions within 30 days.
C.
Serve as the County's contact with the community,
individuals and taxing bodies for information and complaints, other
than appeals, about assessment policies and practices;
D.
Maintain the established lot and block system;
E.
Ensure the establishment and maintenance of records
of an adequate description of properties to assist in the determination
of the value of those properties, and to permit inspection thereof
by the public at all times during office hours;
F.
Make the determination as to whether property shall
be exempt from real estate taxation after recommendation by the Chief
Assessment Officer and consultation with the County Law Department;
G.
Ensure the defense of assessed values in coordination
with the Chief Assessment Officer. The Manager of the Office of Property
Assessment may direct an assessor(s) to be present at any appeal hearing
to defend the assessed value;
H.
Ensure the maintenance in its office records, electronic
or otherwise, of the present valuation of all real property, including
all additions thereto and changes thereof;
I.
Receive from the Recorder of Deeds a report of every
deed or conveyance of land entered in the office for recording, which
record shall set forth the following information, to wit: The recording
date of the deed or conveyance, the names of the grantor and grantee
in the deed, the location of the property as to city, borough, ward,
town, or township mentioned. It shall be the further duty of the Recorder
at intervals to file the aforesaid report in the Office of Property
Assessments together with a certificate appended thereto that such
record is correct;
J.
Prepare and maintain manuals and other necessary guidelines
consistent with nationally recognized standards to perpetuate a current
inventory of all properties within the County;
K.
Ensure access to public records regarding assessments
in accordance with Article X, § 1.10-1005, of the Charter;
L.
Perform such other duties as may be assigned or delegated
by the County Manager in consultation with the Oversight Board;
M.
Administer all abatement programs, including special
acts; and
N.
Process and schedule all appeals for the Appeals Board.
The Chief Assessment Officer shall be an IAAO
Certified Assessment Evaluator (CAE) or hold the highest-ranking Commonwealth
appraiser's license. The Chief Assessment Officer shall have had a
minimum of 10 years of progressively responsible professional experience
in the management of property valuation. The Chief Assessment Officer
shall have a firm command of assessment and taxation practices. The
Chief Assessment Officer shall be appointed by the County Manager
with the unanimous consent of the Property Assessment Oversight Board.
He/she shall perform the following duties and responsibilities:
A.
Oversee the making of all assessments and make the
final determination of the value of all subjects of taxation in accordance
with law, ordinance and industry standards.
B.
Ensure the revision and equalization of all such assessments
and valuations;
C.
Provide information as requested by the Oversight
Board;
D.
Deliver to the Oversight Board on behalf of the Office
of Property Assessment a request for certification of values for properties
in the County in the form and within the time period set forth in
the County's Assessment Standards and Practices Ordinance;
E.
Recommend to the County Council such elements of an
Assessment Standards and Practices Ordinance as the Chief Assessment
Officer deems appropriate;
F.
Ensure that revisions and equalizations are done in
accordance with law, ordinance and industry standards at the lowest
cost per parcel;
G.
Promulgate guidelines for use by County assessors
in applying the cost approach, sales approach and income approach
to property valuation as part of the County's computer assisted mass
appraisal system;
H.
Provide advice and assistance in public relations
efforts;
I.
Assist in establishing policies and procedures for
the Office of Property Assessment;
J.
Set assessment values for properties which have suffered
catastrophic losses; and
K.
Supervise and direct the activities of the assessors.
L.
Report on administrative matters to the County Manager
through the Manager of the Office of Property Assessment and perform
other administrative duties as assigned by the County Manager.
Any assessor or appraiser hired in the Office
of Property Assessment after the enactment of this Administrative
Code who is involved in determining real property values shall, at
a minimum, be a Certified Pennsylvania Evaluator or equivalent.
The established predetermined ratio shall be
100% of market value beginning with certification of assessments for
the 2001 tax year.
A.
The County shall not derive windfall benefits from
annual property reassessments of the valuation of real property or
from changes in the predetermined ratio of assessed valuation to market
value of real estate. Following any annual reassessment or change
in the predetermined ratio, the total amount of real estate tax revenue
that can be received by reason of the reassessment or change in the
ratio by the County from existing land, buildings and structures,
shall not exceed 105% of the total amount of real estate tax revenue
received by the County in the preceding year from that land, and those
buildings and structures. If necessary, the County shall reduce the
real estate tax rate to comply with this revenue limitation.
B.
In calculating the 105% limit, the amount to be levied
on newly constructed buildings or structures, or from increased valuations
based on new improvements made to existing buildings and structures,
shall not be considered.
In arriving at market value, the price at which
any property may actually have been sold shall be considered but shall
not be controlling. In arriving at the market value, all three methods,
namely, cost (reproduction or replacement, as applicable, less depreciation
and all forms of obsolescence), comparable sales and income approaches,
must be considered in conjunction with one another.
The Chief Executive shall, after considering
the recommendations of the Property Assessment Oversight Board and
of the Chief Assessment Officer, present to County Council a proposed
ordinance for adoption that shall:
A.
Set forth a methodology for the valuation of properties
for taxation purposes;
B.
Set standards for property assessments that shall
include, at a minimum, an acceptable limit on the deviation of the
common level ratio from the 100% predetermined ratio, an acceptable
limit on the coefficient of dispersion, and an acceptable range for
the price-related differential. These standards shall be applied to
the assessments within each taxing jurisdiction and, in the City of
Pittsburgh, to the assessments within each ward. The measurements
against the standards shall be calculated following nationally recognized
practices;
C.
Require an annual reassessment through a professionally
developed and maintained Computer Assisted Mass Appraisal system (CAMA);
D.
Require that the annual reassessment be applied to
all properties, including tax exempt property, public utility property,
and residential trailers;
E.
Establish standards for recommending tax exemption
for properties; and
F.
Establish procedure for changing values on an administrative
basis (e.g. catastrophic loss, errors in data, initial recommendation
on tax exemption, etc.).
[Amended 9-7-2004 by Ord. No. 32-04, effective 1-1-2005]
Whenever, through factual, mathematical or clerical
error, an incorrect assessment is made it shall be corrected by the
Office of Property Assessment through the Chief Assessment Officer.
If taxes are paid on such incorrect assessment, the Office of Property
Assessment, upon discovery of such error and correction of the assessment,
shall so inform the appropriate taxing bodies. The County shall make
a refund to the taxpayer or taxpayers for the period of the error
or six years, whichever is less, from the date of application for
refund or discovery of such error by the Office of Property Assessment.
Furthermore, in accordance with the Office of Property Assessment
procedures, the Office shall conduct site visits at the request of
property owners to correct factual, mathematical, or clerical errors,
subject to the following conditions:
A.
Property owners shall be informed of their right to
request a site visit when notified of an assessment;
B.
Site visits shall be requested in writing through
the Office of Property Assessment by April 30 of each tax year;
C.
Requests for site visits shall not be granted while
a property is the subject of the formal appeal process for that year;
D.
Upon request by the property owner, the following
conditions will be considered to determine whether an assessor shall
be sent to the property for a site visit:
E.
Site visits will be conducted and updates will be
made to the system during the third and fourth quarters of each taxing
year;
F.
Nothing herein shall preclude the existing right of
a property owner to appeal his or her assessment value.
Unless otherwise modified by this Administrative
Code, all provisions relating or governing tax assessments set forth
in the Second Class County Assessment Law, 72 P .S. § 5452.1
et seq., and applicable provisions of the General County Assessment
Law, 72 P.S. § 5020-101 et seq., and all other applicable
law shall remain in full force and effect.
The Office of Property Assessments shall not
engage in the practice of spot reassessment.
Upon the abolition of the Board of Property
Assessments, Appeals and Review as currently constructed pursuant
to Article 207 of this Administrative Code, the establishment of a
new Board of Property Assessment Appeals and Review pursuant to Article
207 and the establishment of a Property Assessment Oversight Board
pursuant to Article 205, Article 209 shall become effective.
[Added 2-19-2002 by Ord. No. 04-02]
The Office of Property Assessments will create
a program titled the Ombudsman Program to provide staff to be available
to help the elderly, the disabled, and the Homebound to understand
and deal with the bureaucratic structure including completion and
submittal of necessary forms in the property assessment appeals process.
