First reassessment mailing delayed by week
Although Washington County officials originally planned to mail this week the first batch of what they’re calling “new market value notices” as part of the reassessment, the timetable now calls for the notices to be sent next week.
Robert Neil, county reassessment project manager, wrote in an email the bulk mailing’s delay was “due to unforeseen issues.”
The first batch of notices is being sent to property owners in the 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. The first mailing includes properties in about 30 Mon Valley municipalities.
The county decided Peters Township, commercial and industrial properties will be sent in the fourth and final batch of mailings, which would be week of April 11, but whether the remaining municipalities would receive their notices during the second or third week had not yet been decided.
The first wave of mailings will trigger a series of what Tyler Technologies is calling “informal reviews” if a property owner finds errors in assessment data.
This is the first reassessment of property in Washington County in 35 years, so many changes are afoot. 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. This spring’s notices are not tax bills.
The Washington and McGuffey school districts went to court in 2008 asking for the reassessment.