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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE |
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State
Rep. Marc Gergely |
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House passes Gergely's spot appeal reform bill
HARRISBURG, May 27 – The House of Representatives this week passed state Rep. Marc Gergely's bill intended to rein in the practice of school districts in Allegheny County targeting individual homeowners with property tax increases by unfairly singling them out for "spot" appeals of assessments.
Gergely, a former school board member, said the McKeesport Area School District and other districts have used spot appeal as a tool to raise taxes on properties. To rein in the tactic across the state, Gergely is working in a bipartisan way with Reps. Tim Seip, D-Schuylkill/Berks, and Gordon Denlinger, R-Lancaster, on a package of bills that would reform spot appeals in counties of different population levels. Gergely's bill would cover Allegheny County.
"Spot appeals are essentially a back-door tax increase on an individual
home and that's wrong," Gergely said. "Individuals and families
should not be forced to pay significantly higher school property taxes than a
neighbor with a similar home because of a misguided school district tactic."
Gergely's bill, H.B. 2023, would require a school board member, superintendent, assistant superintendent, or business manager to attend all proceedings regarding each appeal in Allegheny County.
"If a school board wants to force an individual or family to pay more property taxes, then a board member or top administrator should be required to attend the lengthy spot appeal process. This will force the board members to see how real homeowners and families at risk of being hit with a property tax hike are affected by the school board's tactics," Gergely said.
Gergely's bill would make several other reforms to the spot appeals process in Allegheny County:
· A school board would have to take a separate vote for each property targeted for appeal.
- Before the vote, a public meeting with a majority of the elected school directors present would be held. The property owner could address the school board regarding the appeal.
- To increase transparency, a school district would be required to clearly identify the owner, address, tax parcel number of the property and the appraisal method used by the school district 30 days before the public meeting.
- The school district would have to notify the property owner at least 30 days before the meeting by U.S. certified mail.
In previous years, Gergely twice voted for legislation to ban spot appeals but the governor vetoed both bills. Gergely still supports a spot appeals ban, but believes his legislation to increase the burden on school districts would reduce the practice.
The bill passed the House 189-5. It now moves to the state Senate for consideration.
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