Spot Assessment Stricken

Cozen O'Connor
Contact

A divided panel of The Commonwealth Court of Pennsylvania held that a reassessment of property upon the expiration of a KOZ abatement was an unlawful spot assessment. Duke Energy Fayette II, LLC v. Fayette County Board of Assessment Appeals, No. 1406 C.D. 2014 (Pa. Commw. Apr.  14, 2015). Tax on the real property was abated because it was located in a Keystone Opportunity Zone. Improvements were made in 2003, but the county board decided not to reassess the property in order to avoid incurring the cost of an appraisal. The court held that a reappraisal eight years after the construction constituted a spot assessment and was unlawful. The court cited in support Shenandoah Mobile Co. v. Dauphin County Board of Assessment Appeals, 869 A.2d 562 (Pa. Commw. 2005). The court distinguished an earlier case that held that a county could reassess property after an improvement when it had no prior notice of the improvement. Butch v. Berks County Board of Assessment Appeals, 83 Pa. D. & C. 4th 517 (2006), aff’d, 958 A.2d 1158 (Pa. Commw. 2008). Not only was the county aware of the improvements, the county deliberately postponed any reassessment.

DISCLAIMER: Because of the generality of this update, the information provided herein may not be applicable in all situations and should not be acted upon without specific legal advice based on particular situations.

© Cozen O'Connor | Attorney Advertising

Written by:

Cozen O'Connor
Contact
more
less

Cozen O'Connor on:

Reporters on Deadline

"My best business intelligence, in one easy email…"

Your first step to building a free, personalized, morning email brief covering pertinent authors and topics on JD Supra:
*By using the service, you signify your acceptance of JD Supra's Privacy Policy.
Custom Email Digest
- hide
- hide