Pittsburgh – March 15, 2024 − Today, State Senator Wayne Fontana issued the following statement regarding Pittsburgh Public Schools threat to take legal action against Allegheny County to force a property tax reassessment:
I understand the budget situation that Pittsburgh Public Schools is facing. But the plan to sue the county is shortsighted and would not produce the financial relief needed for several years.
In short, this is not a solution.
The severe downtown property assessment reductions are a product of Pennsylvania’s broken reassessment system. The fact that we need a “common level ratio” to calculate property values perfectly illustrates the dysfunction.
We are all in agreement that our system isn’t working. But the problem we are facing did not happen overnight. It has been decades in the making. The solution will not come together overnight either.
Shortly, I will be initiating a process at the state level to gather stakeholder input and professional expertise both across the commonwealth and nationally to develop a fair and equitable system for statewide county reassessments.
I call on the Pittsburgh Public School Board and its solicitor to come to the table and to work together with local- and state-level elected officials so that a short-term solution is reached until a long-term solution that benefits everybody is achieved.
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