CLEARFIELD – The Clearfield County Commissioners have announced that the Commonwealth Court of Pennsylvania has upheld the dismissal of a complaint filed by David W. Fox requesting county-wide reassessment.
The lawsuit was filed by Fox, on behalf of himself and a committee of unidentified concerned citizens. According to the lawsuit it seeked “a declaration of the defendants’ unconstitutional assessment and taxation of real property … due to a lack of uniformity and fairness in taxation. This action also sought to have (the court) compel the defendants to conduct a county-wide reassessment of all properties in Clearfield County for taxation purposes.”
The lawsuit claimed that Fox’s property is being taxed at a higher percentage of the fair market value than other properties throughout the taxing area.
In a press release, the commissioners stated they were informed yesterday by Solicitor Kim Kesner that a panel of the Commonwealth Court of Pennsylvania affirmed Clearfield County President Judge Fredric Ammerman’s dismissal of the complaint.
The Commonwealth Court affirmed the county’s position that Fox’s claim that his property is assessed disproportionately higher than other similar properties in the county should be pursued through the appeals process with the County Board of Assessment Appeals rather than subjecting the entire county to a reassessment.
The court decision stated, “This is an issue that can readily be resolved by using the appeal procedure set forth in the Law, including the application of the CLR to determine the proper assessed value of Mr. Fox’s property. Essentially, Mr. Fox seeks, as a remedy for the alleged over-assessment of his property to force the County to reassess every property therein. This remedy is disproportionate to Mr. Fox’s desire to have his property properly assessed.”
The commissioners are pleased with court’s decision as reassessment would cost county taxpayers millions of dollars and would not correct the underlying problems with existing assessment laws. The commissioners also remind all property owners that the appeal process is available to anyone who feels their property’s assessed value needs reviewed. However, the property owner should be fully prepared to submit factual information that will support their appeal.
The commissioners concluded “The ultimate resolution of the reassessment issue rests in the hands of the Legislature. It is incumbent upon them to develop a more fair and uniform approach to valuing real estate for tax purposes which will allow assessed values to be updated on a continuing basis using available sale and construction costs rather than using the antiquated base year system.”.