LAWRENCE COUNTY Property value notices delayed

County commissioners did not agree to the delay.
By LAURE CIOFFI
VINDICATOR NEW CASTLE BUREAU
NEW CASTLE, Pa. -- It will be at least another week before Lawrence County property owners get their new property values.
County Commissioner Ed Fosnaught said the values, which are part of a countywide reassessment, will likely be mailed Feb. 25.
Evaluation delays: The values were initially expected to go out to property owners today, but there were delays in evaluating them at the county assessor's office, said James Manolis, attorney for Manatron Sabre Systems, the Miamisburg, Ohio, company doing the reassessment.
Manolis said Manatron Sabre officials agreed to the delay, but later learned that county commissioners were not willing to go along with it. But at that point there wasn't enough time to get the information needed for the letters property owners will receive to a printer and mailed out by today, he said.
"Sabre got caught in the middle," Manolis said.
Fosnaught did not want to comment on the matter.
Appeal process: Manolis noted that the delay shouldn't affect reassessment or the informal appeal process, which will start when property owners receive their preliminary values.
The letters will instruct property owners to call Mantron Sabre's Lawrence County office if they disagree with the value placed on their land and homes.
Anyone disputing those numbers can meet with Manatron Sabre representatives to go over the information collected on their property and how the value was placed on it.
This is Lawrence County's first reassessment since 1963.