Tax refund delays raise more concerns about city finances
Pittsburgh homeowners who won property tax reassessment appeals over a year ago are still waiting for their money. While Allegheny County has been comparatively prompt at paying its taxpayers what they’re owed, the other two taxing bodies on the hook — Pittsburgh Public Schools and Pittsburgh itself — have proven unable to keep their end of the bargain.
And because the city handles property taxes for PPS, that means it’s the city’s responsibility. Besides questions of competence and efficiency, the delays raise, once again, the question of Pittsburgh’s financial fragility. Is city hall holding on to taxpayer refunds in order to make its coffers look fuller than they are?
Laws governing second-class cities (that’s code for Pittsburgh) give taxing bodies a 30-day window to pay their debts. But appeal decisions rendered in December of 2023 and January of this year are still not paid out, and homeowners who overpaid on taxes as far back as 2022 are still missing their money.
It’s likely that millions of dollars are in play, for both residential homeowners and commercial property owners. Breaking the law by not refunding taxpayers within that 30-day window, besides being wrong in itself, also opens up the city up to further litigation, compounding its costs.
Twelve years have elapsed since the last countywide property reassessment, and prices are only becoming farther removed from real value — both under and over. While Downtown skyscrapers have earned the headlines, decreases to the common level ratio, which determines assessed value from market value on appeal, have also given some homeowners a break.
Months of work go into seeing an appeal through to completion, including gathering evidence and calling into hearings. Attorneys may charge thousands of dollars to handle the process. It’s grossly unfair to leave taxpayers hanging.
Meanwhile, if the city successfully appeals and wins a higher assessment, it doesn’t give property owners a break on paying what can be a hefty sum of back taxes. It’s city hall’s motto: Grace for me, but not for thee.
This is not the first time the city has bungled the property tax reassessment appeals process. Last May, when homeowners began balking at appeals from September and October not yielding any results, the city explained that new staffers were still getting up to speed.
But this year it’s just more of the same — which should continue to make Pittsburghers nervous about the real state of their city’s finances.