First reassessment meeting draws crowd, critics
KAYLEE LINDENMUTH / SHENANDOAH SENTINEL - Tim Barr, of Vision Government Solutions, speaks to a crowd of about 30 people at North Schuylkill High School on March 7, 2023.
FOUNTAIN SPRINGS – About 2 1/2 dozen people came out Tuesday evening to learn about the upcoming countywide tax reassessment or to criticize the process.
The meeting was held in the large group instruction room at the North Schuylkill Jr./Sr. High School.
Tim Barr, project director for Vision Government Solutions, Inc., who has contracted with the county to conduct the reassessment, provided a presentation.
While most of the group believed the reassessment will lead to a tax increase for all, Barr said state law does not permit that.
“For every dollar that you might pay more, someone else is going to save a dollar,” Barr said.
Schuylkill County last had a property tax reassessment in 1996 and the planned reassessment was forced by a lawsuit from the Community Justice Project. Meanwhile, neighboring Northumberland County has not had a reassessment since the 1970s.
The reassessment will cost the county nearly $7 Million.
“Values have changed since [1996]. They’re not as consistent as they used to be,” Barr said. He said the reassessment is to comply with the uniformity clause of the Pennsylvania Constitution. Essentially, Barr said, like-houses in a like-place must pay similar taxes.
He said that, in some cases, homes can be paying well over or well under what they should be paying, and the assessment aims to equalize that.
“It’s the number one reason counties need to reassess,” Barr said. “It’s to get uniformity back.”
Barr added that assessed property values have increased up to four times since 1996 in the county, while market value has doubled.
He said data collection will begin later this year, and the reassessment will be done and take effect for 2026. After the assessment is done, municipalities will have to lower their tax rates to offset the increase in assessed value and, for that year, any tax increase would be capped at 10%.
During the data collection process, data collectors with county identification, in a marked vehicle, and with a Vision vest will visit all 96,500 properties in the county to photograph and “obtain accurate physical descriptions” of structures.
He said collectors are not allowed inside residential properties, but are allowed to visit properties, including the rear of properties, which drew opposition and an interruption from Larry Padora, New Ringgold, and Maria Casey, candidates for county commissioner, asking Barr to cite the law that allows such access.
Barr cited the state’s requirement that the assessment office physically describe everything on the property. He did say that, while assessment personnel have a legitimate reason to visit the property, if they are asked to leave by the property owner, they will leave.
Padora also contended that longtime county residents who have kept their properties maintained will see a tax increase.
More information on the tax reassessment process can be found at https://www.vgsi.com/schuylkill/.
Two more public meetings are scheduled, on March 13 at the D.H.H. Lengel Middle School in Pottsville, and March 15 at the Tamaqua Area Middle School, both at 6pm. There is no meeting scheduled in the west end of the county.
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