NEW CASTLE Residents seek fair property appraisal

A county official claims the values are regressive and benefit the wealthy.
By LAURE CIOFFI
VINDICATOR NEW CASTLE BUREAU
NEW CASTLE, Pa. -- Lynn Gerber wants only a fair appraisal on the house she owns on Maitland Lane in Neshannock Township, Lawrence County.
"I don't want it overvalued, and I don't want it undervalued. I want the fair market value," Gerber said after talking to a representative from Manatron Sabre Systems, the company completing Lawrence County's first property reassessment in more than 35 years.
Gerber inherited the house from an aunt, and an appraisal done to settle the estate was about $22,000 less than the $87,800 value set by Sabre Systems.
Gerber is just one of about 5,000 people who have appealed the values set by Sabre Systems so far. Appeal hearings are ongoing for the next month, and then the company will refigure numbers for property that had successful appeals and send those figures to the county.
County commissioners, according to their contract with Sabre Systems, should certify the numbers by June and send the values back to property owners. The county will conduct formal appeals in the fall.
The process, however, hasn't gone smoothly.
Contacting Sabre: Residents trying to reach Sabre Systems in its first week of appeal hearings got constant busy signals, leaving county offices overrun with irate callers upset that they couldn't get through.
Sabre's local manager, Steve Raffa, said they were averaging about 500 calls each day in the first week after notices went to property owners, but calls have slowed and telephone lines are still open.
Some decided to go to Sabre's temporary office, adjacent to the county jail on Milton Street, to set up appeal hearings.
For many in Lawrence County, this is a new process since the last reassessment was completed in 1966. Unlike Ohio, Pennsylvania has no set time frame when counties must reassess property.
Reassessment in Lawrence County was initiated by New Castle officials who threatened a lawsuit if the county didn't reassess. They claimed that city residents were paying a greater share of county taxes than others in the county.
John DiMuccio, city business administrator, said that theory has held true. Preliminary values set by Sabre Systems show overall the city property owners will pay 20 percent less in county taxes. He stressed that some individual property owners whose properties were underassessed might pay more.
"It's a fairness issue. Each property should be assessed fairly," he said.
Critics: Reassessment, however, does have its critics.
County Commissioner Ed Fosnaught said he has problems with the numbers set by Sabre Systems.
"I think we have a terrible problem with the numbers. The numbers are regressive. Our former assessed values were regressive, and these are, too," he said.
Fosnaught said regressive means those at a higher level of income, owning property with higher value, will see a smaller percentage increase in taxes than those with less ability to pay and lower-valued property.
Fosnaught could not explain why, and it's unclear if higher-end property in the county had previously been overassessed.
Steve Raffa, Sabre Systems local manager, said his company attempted to place values on property as it would sell on the open real estate market.
Higher-end property is a buyer's, not a seller's market, with fewer people able to afford it, he said.
"Cost [to build] rarely equals value. If you build a $600,000 home in the city of New Castle, that doesn't mean you will get $600,000 when you sell it because of the location problem," he said. "It's rare when cost and value are the same."
He also noted that increasing a lower-end property's value by $2,000 results in a higher percentage increase than adding that same amount to a more expensive property.
Fosnaught has also said that a county consultant doesn't believe Sabre Systems used all methods necessary when arriving at the property values. They claim Sabre Systems only calculated the cost it would take to build a structure and didn't look at comparable sales.
Raffa said that is untrue.
"In most cases, we had enough adequate sales to determine the fair market value. But when you get out into some of the townships, you end up struggling. There are areas that haven't seen a lot of activity," he said.
Residents' response: Some property owners, however, say they believe they know the value of their property better than Sabre Systems.
Ceci and William Braho tried to sell the rental house they own at 1716 East Washington St. in New Castle for $30,000 about six years ago.
"We couldn't even get a bite," said Ceci Braho who said she paid $14,000 for the house 12 years ago.
Sabre Systems valued the property at $47,300.
The Brahos brought pictures of too-small closets, buckling bathroom walls and a commode sitting amongst the mess of an unfinished basement to make their point to Sabre officials.
The hearing officer took note of all their points, including that the house is on a street busy with traffic.
Hearing officers want something to show that the property isn't valued at what was set by Sabre Systems.
"Any type of documentation to show us why you don't feel its worth the value we placed on it. Some people brought in information, and we go over it with them," Raffa said.
The Brahos walked off uncertain whether their assessment will change, but content they made their case.
Carol Frketich of Mahoning Township said she was surprised when she received a $28,500 fair market value for her 1969, two-bedroom mobile home.
"I talked to people who own four-bedroom modular homes, and their values were $400 less than mine," she said. She believes her mobile home is worth about $2,000.
In her case, the hearing officer immediately agreed.
Apparently, there were data entry errors on several mobile homes that were marked as frame homes, dramatically increasing their value, Raffa said.
It's problems such as Frketich's that they hope the preliminary appeal process will solve, he said.
"Hopefully we are answering a lot of questions and solving a lot of problems for down the road," Raffa said.