PITTSBURGH POST-GAZETTE: With another court-ordered property assessment close at hand, Allegheny County Council is considering a call for a state moratorium. But that action by the governor and the Legislature, even if it passes constitutional muster, won’t solve the problem.
The only way to fix Pennsylvania’s county-by-county approach to property assessment — and the courts’ county-by-county orders in this area — is with a state law that sets uniform standards for all 67 counties. That will be much harder to achieve politically than a simple moratorium, but it’s exactly what local and state leaders need to seek and accomplish.
County Council President Rich Fitzgerald has offered a resolution, approved in committee, that urges the General Assembly and Gov. Tom Corbett to “enact a statewide property tax assessment moratorium with all due speed.” It also calls for a “comprehensive solution that places all counties within Pennsylvania on equal terms” and says “the General Assembly should avail itself of the opportunity to craft such a legislative solution on its own terms, rather than have one dictated to it by the judiciary.”.. (more)
