Mar 2, 2016 3 min read

Residents of the Bentworth, Beth-Center, California, Charleroi and Ringgold school districts, plus homeowners in Washington County’s West Brownsville Borough, which is part of Brownsville Area School District in Fayette County, will be the first to receive their new property assessments in a mailing going out March 14.

County solicitor J. Lynn DeHaven said Wednesday 30-some municipalities will be included in this first wave.

Last to be sent will be letters to Peters Township residents and owners of commercial and industrial property countywide, which Tyler is calling “modules” of bulk mailing. The order of sending the reassessment notices to the municipalities included in the remaining eight school districts later in March and early April is yet to be determined.

This is the first reassessment of property in Washington County in 35 years, so this is uncharted territory for many who will be receiving the notices. Property assessments here have been based on 25 percent of fair market value as of Jan. 1, 1981. The new assessments will be based on 100 percent of fair market value as of July 1, 2015.

The first wave of mailings, up and down the Mon Valley from Union to East Bethlehem townships and everywhere in between, will trigger the initial round of what Tyler is calling “informal reviews” if property owners perceive errors in the data used to determine an assessment.

To make changes in the database containing detailed information about every one of the 120,000 parcels of land in the county, people who have received their new assessments in the mail can make an appointment to meet with a Tyler representative at the Chapman Building, 351 W. Beau St., Washington, by calling 724-228-5019.

Also included in each envelope will be a map showing the location of the Chapman Building – plus its photograph – to help people find their way to the informal reviews. These informal reviews are expected to take place through May.

If a property owner disputes the determination that results from an informal review, he or she can take the matter to a formal hearing scheduled by the Board of Assessment Appeals after June 1.

The reassessment notice is not a tax bill. Municipalities and Washington County will have to adjust tax levies in advance of the Jan. 1, 2017, tax year, while school districts will have to do the same before their fiscal year begins July 1, 2017. For example, Washington County millage, now set at 24.9, will be dropping to between 3 and 4 mills, Chief Assessor Bradley Boni said a recent meeting about the reassessment convened in Peters Township School District.