Feb 24, 2017 5 min read

It seems ironic Tom Gottschalk, who’s been out of work since the bottom fell out of the coal market, has an address of “Prosperity, Pa.”

“I’ve really been scraping the barrel here to pay bills,” said Gottschalk, 70, pinning his hopes on a security guard job at a future well site where seismic testing will be conducted. “I’m laid off, and I’m fightin’ with everybody.”

So when Gottschalk opened his mail last month and found a county tax bill he found “astronomical,” he made it his mission to right what he viewed as an injustice.

“I got no problem with paying taxes, but make it fair to everybody,” he said. Discussing Thursday a thick file he keeps on his dining room table, he said he tried going before a three-person board of assessment of appeals in October armed with several photos and a list of comparable properties to challenge his $135,000 assessment.

It was to no avail. When he received notification of the outcome a month later, the letter had a terse message about his two and a half acres: No change.

Gottschalk lives on Mt. Zion Road, which rivals a roller-coaster with its steep grades and sharp cuves, in a two-story frame home, part of which was built in 1865. He moved there in 1977, telling a visitor it was once the Elmer Andrew pig farm.

After meeting last week with Bradley Boni, Washington County chief assessor, he straightened out errors related to his 2016 tax bill. Boni said the error was not related to a countywide property reassessment conducted by Tyler Technologies Inc. of Moraine, Ohio, but that Gottschalk is due a refund.

“People have got to know they have to check their numbers,” Gottschalk said. “They’re not getting their ducks in a row.”

Gottschalk attributed the inaccuracy to being taxed for outbuildings he no longer owns because of a property subdivision six years ago. Boni said the problem lay with Gottschalk being assessed for structures that had been razed.

Whatever the issue, Gottschalk plans to appeal to court his current assessment before Sept. 1, but he won’t be part of the more than 1,100 appeals that began to be heard in Washington County Court Friday.

“This ain’t worth $135,000,” he said of his land and buildings. “For 2017, I am screwed.”

The proceedings Friday were settlement conferences before one of seven court-appointed masters who have been appointed to quasi-judicial positions. The masters in assessment appeals are to serve as conciliators who will try to work out differences behind closed doors, following a process that is conducted in civil litigation.

“First day, first hearing,” said William A. Congelio, the master who presided Friday.

Matthew and Rebecca Sezawich of Stockdale didn’t know they’d be scheduled to be the first of the roughly 1,100 who apppealed their property assessments. They also had a power of attorney to present a case on behalf of their son-in-law, a resident of Speers Borough, and they achieved their objective of reducing the assessment on each property.

“It was very fair for both sides,” Rebecca Sezawich said.

It was also their third go-round since Tyler completed the reassessment field work. They had previously gone through an informal review and an appearance before the three-person assessment appeals board.

“Settled the first two. We’re smokin’,” said Blane Black, solicitor for the county tax revenue office, as he scurried through a corridor in the Family Court Center.

By the time the morning’s second conference wrapped up, Black could’ve remarked he was batting a thousand.

Barry Piacenza of North Charleroi and his attorney, David DelGreco of Pittsburgh, emerged from the confab to the sound of Vivaldi’s “Four Seasons,” Piacenza’s phone ringtone. After taking the call, he said he and other senior citizens are being hit not only with increasing property taxes but with a doubling of water and sewer bills.

“It’s the relative value of what I’m having to pay over time, based on what my income is,” Piacenza said.

Part of his presentation dealt with aspects of his neighborhood that perhaps weren’t part of Tyler Technologies’ calculation.

“I have Section 8 housing surrounding part of my house,” he said. “I’m concerned about those issues and the quality of those structures, and the fact there have been several police calls in the area, so that has an impact on all of this as well.

“That’s not to down the board,” he continued. “These are good people trying to do a good job, and I appreciate what they’ve done. This has to do more with the whole environment of taxation. Taxing bodies depend on property taxes for income to do their mandated capabilities, but there needs to be break based on age” and the surroundings, what he called “the immediate rational nexus.”

The appeals continue next week and into spring, with Robert Johnson assigned to preside at Monday’s cases. Each master has a mix of commercial and residential cases. Johnson’s first case, for example, involves a mobile home situated on 10 acres. He will at some point also hear the assessment appeal of the West Brownsville Walmart.

The masters’ rulings could potentially become the final order of the court in the property assessment appeals. If the parties do not agree on the property’s value, each side has the opportunity to take exceptions and argue their views before a judge.

Litigants throughout the conciliation process are to report to the Family Court Center information desk for a hearing room assignment.

The first countywide property reassessment in Washington County in 35 years came about because of a court case filed in 2008 by Washington and McGuffey school districts.