LAWRENCE COUNTY Board: Budget won't suffer

Four other property tax appeals are still pending in court.
By LAURE CIOFFI
VINDICATOR NEW CASTLE BUREAU
NEW CASTLE, Pa. -- Lawrence County officials say taking more than $4 million worth of property valuation off the tax rolls this week probably won't have a big effect on their yearly budget.
"We knew there would be changes and we took that into account when we did the budget," said Brian Burick, Lawrence County commissioner.
Commissioners agreed to $4,158,900 in tax exonerations at their Tuesday meeting.
Seventeen of the 29 changes were because of court appeals of the county's property value reassessment filed by landowners in common pleas court. The other reductions were because of fires, clerical errors and trailers being scrapped.
Reassessment
County officials say they expected a large number of appeals this year because of the countywide reassessment, completed last year. It was the county's first reassessment in nearly 40 years.
Mary Bullano, chief county assessor, said schools and municipalities where appeals were pending were notified earlier in the year that changes in property valuations could be made.
She said most adjusted their yearly budgets, anticipating successful appeals from some land owners.
The $4.1 million change in assessments represents just under $17,000 in county taxes, she said. The school and municipality taxes were not given by county officials, but will also change.
Some of the larger appeals included a $651,900 reduction for property owned by R.J. Bruce in Shenango Township and $600,300 reduction for the Slovene National Benefit Society in SNPJ.
Changes expected
Bullano said those changes were expected because a contractor hired by the county to do the reassessment didn't consider some factors when assigning values to those properties.
Some SNPJ cottages do not have plumbing or heating and were assessed the same as ones with those amenities, and there are portions of Bruce's building, the former New Castle Crane Co. off Pa. Route 65, that are not usable, she said.
Despite the drop in tax value, both properties are still assessed at well over $1 million each, Bullano said.
She added that four other appeals are still pending in common pleas court.