act-1939-0-294•Pennsylvania Act 1939-294 — SECOND CLASS COUNTY ASSESSMENT LAW
Pennsylvania Act 1939-294 — SECOND CLASS COUNTY ASSESSMENT LAW
act-1939-0-2941939 Pa. Act 294Law
Act text
SECOND CLASS COUNTY ASSESSMENT LAW
Act of Jun. 21, 1939, P.L. 626, No. 294 Cl. 53
AN ACT
Providing for and regulating the assessment and valuation of all
subjects of taxation in counties of the second class;
creating and prescribing the powers and duties of a Board of
Property Assessment, Appeals and Review; imposing duties on
certain county and city officers; abolishing the board for
the assessment and revision of taxes in such counties; and
prescribing penalties.
The General Assembly of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania
hereby enacts as follows:
Section 1. In order to more efficiently and equitably assess
and value persons, property and subjects of taxation for county
purposes in counties of the second class and for the use of
those municipal and quasi-municipal corporations which levy
their taxes on county assessments and valuations, there is
hereby created in such counties a board to be known as the
"Board of Property Assessment, Appeals and Review," hereinafter
referred to as the "board."
Section 1.1. The following words and phrases when used in
this act shall have, unless the context clearly indicates
otherwise, the meanings given to them in this section:
"Base year" shall mean the year upon which real property
market values are based for the most recent county-wide revision
of assessment of real property, or other prior year upon which
the market value of all real property of the county is based.
Real property market values shall be equalized within the county
and any changes by the board shall be expressed in terms of such
base year values.
"Common level ratio" shall mean the ratio of assessed value
to current market value used generally in the county as last
determined by the State Tax Equalization Board pursuant to the
act of June 27, 1947 (P.L.1046, No.447), referred to as the
State Tax Equalization Board Law.
"Established predetermined ratio" shall mean the ratio of
assessed value to market value established by the Board of
Property Assessment, Appeals and Review and uniformly applied in
determining assessed value in any year. (Def. amended Feb. 24,
1984, P.L.96, No.18)
(1.1 added Dec. 13, 1982, P.L.1186, No.272)
Section 2. (a) The Board of Property Assessment, Appeals
and Review shall consist of seven members, who shall be citizens
of this Commonwealth and all of whom shall have been residents
of the county for at least ten years next prior to his
appointment, and four of whom shall have not less than five
years' practical experience as a registered real estate broker,
or real estate appraiser or assessor, one of whom shall have not
less than five years' practical experience in securities
transactions, necessitating a knowledge of the values of stocks,
bonds and other securities, one of whom shall have not less than
five years' practical experience as a building construction
engineer or civil engineer or general contractor or assessor,
and the seventh of whom shall have not less than five years'
experience as a practicing attorney at law or registered real
estate broker, or real estate appraiser or assessor. ((a)
amended May 13, 1955, 1956 P.L.55, No.26)
(b) The members of the board shall be appointed by the
county commissioners. ((b) amended May 23, 1941, P.L.49, No.31)
(c) The terms of the members first appointed shall begin on
the first Monday of January, one thousand nine hundred and
forty-two. Of such members first appointed three shall be
appointed for terms of six years, two shall be appointed for
terms of five years; and the two remaining members shall be
appointed for terms of four years. Thereafter all appointments
to fill vacancies, happening by the expiration of a term, shall
be for terms of six years. All appointments to fill vacancies
happening in any manner other than by the expiration of a term
shall be filled for the unexpired term only. In each case,
whether or not the vacancy happens by the expiration of a term,
the appointment shall be made subject to the same requirements
as in the case of the member whose vacancy is to be filled. ((c)
amended May 23, 1941, P.L.49, No.31)
(d) The board shall organize on the first Monday of January,
one thousand nine hundred and forty-two and on the first Monday
of January, every third year thereafter, or as soon after such
days as possible, by electing one of its members as chairman and
one as vice-chairman, who shall also serve as secretary of the
board. Both the chairman and the vice-chairman shall be members
who have not less than five years' practical experience as
registered real estate brokers or real estate appraisers or
assessors. Each member of the board shall give bond in such
amount and with surety or sureties as the county commissioners
shall approve, conditioned for the faithful performance of his
duties as a member of the board. The chairman of the board shall
receive an annual salary of eight thousand dollars ($8,000); the
vice-chairman shall receive an annual salary of seven thousand
dollars ($7,000); and each of the other members shall receive an
annual salary of six thousand dollars ($6,000).
(e) All of the members of the board, as well as all persons
employed by them under the provisions of this act, shall devote
sufficient time to the duties of their office to fully discharge
such duties, but may hold other office or employment or may
engage in any business outside of their position as members or
employes of the board; except, that no member or employe of the
board shall engage in the real estate or insurance business or
hold an office or position of employment in any such business.
((e) amended Aug. 17, 1951, 1952 P.L.1297, No.313)
Section 3. The board shall appoint to serve at its pleasure,
such number of subordinate and special assessors and such number
of clerks, stenographers and other employes as the board shall
deem requisite. The salaries or compensation of all employes of
the board shall be fixed by the salary board of the county and
together with the salaries of the members of the board, shall be
paid out of the county treasury. When acting on the salary or
compensation of any employe of the board, the chairman of the
board shall sit as a member of the salary board. All persons
appointed by the board shall be qualified according to
standards, not inconsistent with the provisions of this act,
adopted by the board and pursuant to such oral and written
examinations as the board shall prescribe.
The board shall by majority vote reject any proposed employes
who in the opinion of the board are not qualified according to
the standards and provisions of this act, and pursuant to such
oral or written examinations as the board shall prescribe. The
board shall by majority vote promote, demote or discharge any
employes in the department who, in the opinion of the majority
of the board, are deserving of such promotion, demotion or
discharge. No member of the Board of Property Assessment,
Appeals and Review shall be permitted to hold any political
office.
Section 4. The Board of Property Assessment, Appeals and
Review shall have power and its duty shall be:
(a) To make and supervise the making of all assessments and
valuations of all subjects of taxation in the county as required
by existing law.
(a.1) The board shall assess real property at a value based
upon an established predetermined ratio which may not exceed one
hundred percent (100%) of actual value. Such ratio shall be
established and determined by the Board of Property Assessment,
Appeals and Review after proper notice has been given. In
arriving at actual value the county may utilize the current
market value or it may adopt a base year market value. ((a.1)
added Dec. 13, 1982, P.L.1186, No.272)
(a.2) In arriving at actual value, the price at which any
property may actually have been sold, either in the base year or
in the current taxable year, shall be considered but shall not
be controlling. In arriving at the actual value, all three
methods, namely, cost (reproduction or replacement, as
applicable, less depreciation and all forms of obsolescence),
comparable sales and income approaches, must be considered in
conjunction with one another. ((a.2) added Dec. 13, 1982,
P.L.1186, No.272)
(a.3) The board shall apply the established predetermined
ratio to the actual value of all real property to formulate the
assessment roll. ((a.3) added Dec. 13, 1982, P.L.1186, No.272)
(b) To revise and equalize all such assessments and
valuations.
(c) To hear all cases of appeals from assessments, and all
complaints as to assessments, errors, exonerations and refunds.
(d) To pass upon and determine the amount of property of any
organization or institution which is under the provisions of
existing law entitled to exemption from taxation.
(e) To establish and maintain in its office records of
cubical contents of buildings, surveys, maps, sales and
assessments and with the exception of the cubical contents,
records and sales records, to permit inspection thereof by the
public at all times during office hours.
(f) To perform and exercise all the powers and duties
heretofore imposed or conferred upon the board for the
assessment and revision of taxes in counties of the second class
under the provisions of any existing law not repealed hereby.
(g) To perform and exercise such other powers and duties as
may be conferred or imposed upon it by the provisions of this
act or any other act of Assembly.
Section 5. The board shall establish and maintain in its
office a register which shall show the present valuation and
assessment of all property in the county both real and personal,
and from time to time as the same are made, all additions
thereto and changes thereof, together with the signature of all
persons responsible for any changes in the assessment or
valuation of any such property and the reasons for any such
changes.
(5 amended Dec. 13, 1982, P.L.1186, No.272)
Section 6. It shall be the duty of the recorder of deeds in
each county of the second class to report every deed or
conveyance of land in said county entered in his office for
recording, which record shall set forth the following
information, to wit: The recording date of the deed or
conveyance, the names of the grantor and grantee in the deed,
the location of the property as to city, borough, ward, town, or
township mentioned. It shall be the further duty of the recorder
at intervals to file the aforesaid report in the office of the
board together with his certificate appended thereto that such
record is correct.
Section 7. The board may divide the county into three
districts, as nearly equal as possible in subjects of taxation,
and may provide that triennial assessments shall be made each
year, but for only one of such three districts during any one
year. In order to inaugurate such system, a triennial assessment
may be made for the first district during the year immediately
following one in which a triennial assessment was made for the
county as a whole, and a triennial assessment may be made for
the second district during the second year following one in
which a triennial assessment was made for the county as a whole.
Whenever the board has divided the county into districts and
provided for triennial assessments in each of such triennial
districts as herein set forth, the board, in making and
supervising assessments and valuations of property in such
triennial districts shall make such assessments and valuations
at a level uniform within such triennial districts but not in
excess of the actual market value of any property assessed and
valued and such assessments shall be deemed to be in compliance
with the requirements of uniformity of taxation on the same
class of subjects.
(7 amended Nov. 9, 1965, P.L.668, No.326)
Section 8. The proper assessors shall make the assessment
and valuations of all subjects of taxation within their
respective districts as provided by existing law, and in so
doing shall view all taxable property in their district. The
assessors shall make a personal house-to-house canvass of their
district in order that such lists of persons may be accurate and
correct in so far as it is possible to so make them. A list of
all persons shall not be required to be made yearly but
triennially in the year immediately preceding the regular
triennial assessment. Any assessor who shall fail to make such
assessments and valuations and lists in the manner herein
provided or who shall knowingly and wilfully make any false
assessment, shall be guilty of a misdemeanor, and, upon
conviction thereof, shall be sentenced to pay a fine not
exceeding one thousand dollars ($1,000), and in default of the
payment of such fine and costs, to undergo an imprisonment not
exceeding six (6) months.
(8 amended Dec. 13, 1982, P.L.1186, No.272)
Section 8.1. (8.1 repealed Aug. 14, 1963, P.L.911, No.435)
Section 9. The assessors shall make such assessments and
valuations of subjects of taxation each year preceding the
triennial assessment in such counties, and shall file the same
with the board on or before the first Monday of September of
such year. Assessment of occupation after being once fixed shall
not be changed during the triennium, except by the board upon
the appearance and affidavit of the taxpayer. The assessor
shall, in the year immediately preceding the regular triennial
assessment, make occupational assessments for all of those in
his territory who have become of age since the creation of the
last assessment and all of those who have moved into the
territory since the creation of the last assessment.
The county and each city, borough, incorporated town,
township and school district may, by ordinance or resolution,
exempt any person whose total income from all sources is less
than five thousand dollars ($5,000) per annum, from its
occupation tax or any portion thereof. Each taxing authority may
adopt regulations for the processing of claims for exemption.
(Par. amended Nov. 26, 1982, P.L.758, No.213)
(9 amended Dec. 13, 1982, P.L.1186, No.272)
Section 10. (a) The board shall, as provided by this act
and by the provisions of existing law, examine and revise the
assessments and valuations, increasing or decreasing the same as
in their judgment may seem proper, and shall add thereto such
property or subjects of taxation as may have been omitted.
(b) After such revision, the board shall, by rule, fix
convenient times for the hearing of appeals from said
assessments and valuations.
(c) In any appeal of an assessment the board shall make the
following determinations:
(1) The current market value for the tax year in question.
(2) The common level ratio.
(3) The fair market value, as determined in accordance with
section 402 of the act of May 22, 1933 (P.L.853, No.155), known
as "The General County Assessment Law."
(d) The board, after determining the current market value of
the property for the tax year in question, shall then apply the
established predetermined ratio to such value unless the common
level ratio varies by more than fifteen percent (15%) from the
established predetermined ratio, in which case the board shall
apply the common level ratio to the current market value of the
property for the tax year in question. For the initial year of
the implementation of county-wide reassessment, appeals shall be
solely on the basis of fair market value.
(e) Nothing herein shall prevent any appellant from
appealing any base year valuation without reference to ratio.
(f) Except as provided for in subsection (g), the valuations
determined in accordance with this section shall stand as the
valuations for the assessments of all county and institution
district taxes and for such other political subdivisions as levy
their taxes on county assessments and valuations in the county
until the next triennial assessment.
(g) Persons who have suffered catastrophic losses to their
property shall have the right to appeal before the board, within
the remainder of the county fiscal year in which the
catastrophic loss occurred, or within six (6) months of the date
on which the catastrophic loss occurred, whichever time period
is longer. The duty of the board shall be to reassess the value
of the property in the following manner: the value of the
property before the catastrophic loss based on the percentage of
the taxable year for which the property stood at its former
value, added to the value of the property after the catastrophic
loss, based on the percentage of the taxable year for which the
property stood at its reduced value. Any property improvements
made subsequent to the catastrophic loss in the same tax year
shall not be included in the reassessment as herein described
for that tax year. Any adjustment in an assessment pursuant to
this subsection (1) shall be reflected by the appropriate taxing
authorities in the form of a credit for the next succeeding tax
year; or (2) upon application by the property owner to the
appropriate taxing authorities, shall result in a refund being
paid to the property owner at the time of issuance of the tax
notice for the next succeeding tax year by the respective taxing
authorities. For purposes of this subsection, the phrase
"catastrophic loss" shall mean any loss due to mine subsidence,
fire, flood or other natural disaster which affects the physical
state of the real property and which exceeds fifty percent (50%)
of the market value of the real property prior to the loss.
(10 amended Dec. 21, 1988, P.L.1437, No.175)
Section 10.1. When an appeal is taken by a municipality or
school district of an assessment dealing with commercial
property, industrial property, multiple residential property
over twenty units or mobile home parks value made by the board
and a property appraisal is initiated after consultation between
representatives of the affected taxing jurisdictions involved,
the cost for the independent appraisal to be used by the board
in the appeal shall be paid in the following manner: the cost
shall be shared among the affected county, the affected
municipality or municipalities and the affected school district
or school districts in the same proportion the millage rate of
each entity is to the total millage of such entities.
(10.1 added Mar. 26, 1992, P.L.22, No.8)
Section 11. When the triennial assessments shall be fixed,
either for the whole county or in districts thereof, or when the
established predetermined ratio has been changed within the
county, notice of that fact shall be given, by publication in at
least two newspapers of general circulation in the county, of
the time when appeals will be heard and a copy of the
assessments made in boroughs and townships shall be placed in
some public place in each such borough or township by the
assessor. The board shall adopt rules and regulations governing
the right to and the holding of appeals, and the practice and
procedure thereat. Such rules and regulations shall be
published, together with the notices of triennial assessments as
above provided.
The board shall provide simple appeal forms which shall
contain simple questions clearly expressed, which will require
answers having a direct bearing on the true value of the
property as of the period for which such assessment was made. No
other type of questions shall be contained thereon.
In the year one thousand nine hundred forty-three, the board
shall permit appeals to be taken from assessments up to and
including June first, and no later, including all those where
the 1943 taxes have been paid in whole or in part. In subsequent
years, no appeals may be taken from assessments of properties
after the last day of February of the year in which the
assessment first becomes effective. All appeals filed with the
board prior to this amendment shall be valid, if otherwise in
accordance with existing law. At all appeal hearings, the
property owner or his agent appearing for him shall have the
right to be represented by counsel and to be accompanied by
witnesses or assistants.
If a taxpayer has filed an appeal from an assessment, so long
as the appeal is pending before the board or before a court on
appeal from the determination of the board, as provided by
statute, the appeal will also be taken as an appeal by the
taxpayer on the subject property for any valuation for any
triennial or intertriennial assessment subsequent to the filing
of such appeal with the board and prior to the determination of
the appeal by the board or the court. The board shall hold its
hearings and make its final determination of the subsequent
years in question in the same manner as for the year or years
for which the original appeal was filed. This provision shall be
applicable to all pending appeals as well as future appeals.
After the hearing of appeals, the board shall take such
action in regard thereto as may be right and proper, and shall,
within ten (10) days thereafter, complete such action and make
their determinations, and immediately give due notice to the
appellant by registered mail.
(11 amended Dec. 21, 1988, P.L.1437, No.175)
Compiler's Note: Section 2 of Act 16 of 2001 provided that
section 11 is repealed insofar as it is inconsistent with
section 1 of Act 16.
Section 12. (12 repealed Dec. 20, 1982, P.L.1409, No.326)
Section 13. The proper assessors shall, between the
triennial assessments, revise any assessment or valuation
according to right and equity by correcting errors and by adding
thereto any property, improvements or subjects of taxation which
may have been omitted or any new property, improvements or
subjects of taxation which may have come into being since the
last triennial assessment. Any property, improvements or
subjects of taxation which may have been omitted shall be
assessed and made subject to taxation for the period during
which said property, improvements or subjects of taxation shall
have been omitted but in no event to exceed the period of five
calendar years preceding the year in which the property,
improvements or subjects of taxation omitted is first added to
the assessment roll. Any such assessments as are made pursuant
to the provisions of this paragraph shall be subject to appeal
in the same manner as other assessments made pursuant to this
act. Taxes levied on any such assessment shall not be made
subject to the payment of any interest and penalties otherwise
provided by law, except as the same are computed from the date
of assessment made pursuant to this section. No bona fide
purchaser of any property or subject of taxation without
knowledge that the property or subject of taxation was omitted
from assessment for purposes of taxation shall be subject to any
taxation based upon the additional assessment made pursuant to
this section.
They shall also add thereto the names of any persons who may
have moved into such district and strike therefrom the names of
any persons who have removed from such districts since the last
triennial assessment.
The proper assessors shall also revise assessments and
valuations between the triennial assessments by increasing or
decreasing the same where the value of the property or subjects
of taxation assessed or valued has changed by reason of any
change of conditions thereon or adjacent thereto or in the
vicinity thereof, or for the reason that the property assessed
or valued has been subdivided or laid out into a plan of lots or
other subdivisions, or for the reason that improvements have
been placed thereon or added thereto, or for the reason that any
public or other improvement has been made adjacent thereto or in
the vicinity thereof, or for the reason that the assessor and
the majority of the board decides that the assessor erred in the
value which he placed on the property or subjects of taxation
when making the triennial assessment, or where, for any other
reason whatsoever, the value of the property has changed and it
seems to the board necessary and equitable to make a change in
the valuation thereof. The assessors shall also, between the
triennial assessments in all cases where it is apparent that any
assessment is not in accord with the generality or uniform
standard of assessments, revise and correct the same by
increasing or decreasing the same where the value of the
property or subjects of taxation assessed do not conform to the
generality or uniform standard of assessments.
No land assessed as acreage or unimproved property, which is
subsequently laid out in residential lots and the plan of such
lots is recorded, shall be assessed in excess of the total
assessment of the land as acreage or unimproved property until
such time as the lots are actually improved with permanent
construction of any new building and either sold to a bona fide
purchaser or occupied for residential purposes. Each such lot as
sold or occupied shall be subject to reassessment beginning with
the date of such sale or occupancy, and new construction thereon
shall be subject to reassessment as provided above. When a
department or agency of the Commonwealth or a municipality has
ordered a sewer connection ban because of a lack of adequate
sewage treatment facilities, the real estate affected by the
order shall be reassessed for the duration of the order. The
reassessment shall be based on the value of the best use of the
land during the period of the reassessment. New single and
multiple dwellings constructed for residential purposes and
improvements to existing unoccupied dwellings or improvements to
existing structures for purposes of conversion to dwellings,
shall not be valued or assessed for purposes of real property
taxes until (1) occupied, (2) conveyed to a bona fide purchaser,
or (3) thirty months from the first day of the month after which
the building permit was issued or, if no building permit or
other notification of improvement was required, then from the
date construction commenced. The assessment of any multiple
dwelling because of occupancy shall be upon such proportion
which the value of the occupied portion bears to the value of
the entire multiple dwelling. As used in this paragraph, the
word "dwellings" means buildings or portions thereof intended
for permanent use as homes or residences and the phrase
"affected by the order" shall be defined as the application for
a building permit and the denial to the applicant of permission
to proceed with the building or construction because of a sewer
ban order.
All assessments required to be made by the proper assessors
in the year between the triennial assessment shall be returned
to the board not later than the first Monday of September of the
year preceding the one for which it is made.
(13 amended Dec. 21, 1988, P.L.1437, No.175)
Compiler's Note: Section 2 of Act 105 of 1977, which amended
the fourth paragraph of section 13, provided that Act 105
shall apply to sewer connection bans in effect on and
after the effective date of Act 105. The two-year period
of reassessment shall begin on the effective date of Act
105 for sewer connection bans imposed on or before the
effective date of Act 105.
Section 13.1. Whenever, through mathematical or clerical
error, an assessment is made more than it should have been and
taxes are paid on such incorrect assessment, the Board of
Property Assessment, Appeals and Review, upon discovery of such
error and correction of the assessment, shall so inform the
appropriate taxing district or districts, which shall make a
refund to the taxpayer or taxpayers for the period of the error
or six years, whichever is less, from the date of application
for refund or discovery of such error by the board. For the
purposes of this section, in counties of the second class,
"mathematical or clerical error" shall mean the difference
between the assessment as certified for a given tax year by the
Board of Property Assessment, Appeals and Review and the
assessment upon which taxes are billed and paid. Reassessment,
revision of assessment or certification of assessment with or
without application by the owner as a decision of judgment based
upon the method of assessment by the board shall not constitute
an error under this section.
(13.1 added Dec. 21, 1988, P.L.1437, No.175)
Section 14. At any time before such date, any taxable person
may apply to the board for the reassessment of any subject of
taxation which he considers incorrectly assessed or as to which
he considers himself entitled to a change in valuation or to
have mechanical or transcribing errors corrected.
Section 15. At least thirty (30) days' written notice shall
be given to any taxable person whose assessment shall be changed
at any triennial assessment, or between triennial assessments,
in a manner which would mean an increase in the taxes on such
real estate if the same tax rate should prevail setting forth
any change which has been made and the time and place set for
hearing objections thereto. At least thirty (30) days' written
notice shall also be given to any taxable person if the
established predetermined ratio is changed within the county.
Any required notice shall be served by the board or any
member thereof or by any assessor or by any other person
authorized so to do by the board upon said taxable person or may
be mailed to him or her at his or her last known address by
first class mail.
When no service is made upon the taxable person by an
authorized person or by first class mail, said notice shall be
deemed to have been properly served if tacked or conspicuously
posted upon the property assessed.
No defect in service of any such notice of an assessment
change shall be sufficient ground for setting aside any
assessment so made, but upon proof thereof being made, the
taxable person shall have the right to a rehearing before the
board relative to said assessment and to appeal therefrom to the
court of common pleas as hereinafter provided.
(15 amended Feb. 24, 1984, P.L.96, No.18)
Section 16. After the hearing of any objections to any
change made or to the failure to make any change to which any
taxable person considers himself entitled, and the making of any
changes that may be deemed proper, the valuation as so
ascertained shall, unless changed in the manner herein provided
or as provided by existing law, stand as the valuation for the
assessments for county and institution district taxes and for
such other political subdivisions as levy their taxes on county
assessments and valuations, in such county, until the next
triennial assessment: Provided, That all taxes levied for the
year one thousand nine hundred and forty-two, or any fiscal year
commencing during the year one thousand nine hundred and forty-
two, shall be levied and assessed on assessments and valuations
made as heretofore provided by law.
Section 17. (a) No appeal taken from any assessments made
under this act shall affect the validity of any taxes assessed,
nor shall it prevent the collection of the taxes based upon the
assessment if such assessment shall thereafter be reduced, an
exoneration shall be granted for the proper amount to equalize
such reduction, if the taxes based upon such assessment have not
been paid, and if the taxes based upon such assessment have been
paid the excess taxes collected shall be refunded to the person
having made such payment. Such refunds except as provided in
subsection (b) shall be made within thirty (30) days after the
tax levying authorities have been notified by mail by the board
of the reduction made in the assessment by the board or by the
court and such refunds shall include interest at the legal rate
commencing one (1) year after the date of the receipt by the
tax-levying authorities of the mailed reduction notice from the
board, but in no event shall said statutory interest begin to
accrue prior to June 22, 1970. No such appeal shall operate to
relieve the appellant from liability for accrued interest and
penalties on any unpaid taxes based upon the assessment as
finally established.
(b) Refunds of county taxes of less than one hundred dollars
($100) may at the option of tax-levying authorities, be made
without the necessity of any formal action by the board of
county commissioners on individual refunds.
(17 amended Dec. 10, 1980, P.L.1158, No.210)
Section 17.1. On or before the fifteenth day of January, the
Board of Property Assessment, Appeals and Review shall certify
to the clerk or secretary of each political subdivision coming
within the scope of this act, within the county, the total value
of real property appearing in the assessment roll and taxable by
the respective political subdivisions. The time limit within
which the political subdivision is entitled to appeal from the
actions of the board shall commence to run on the day such
certification is mailed or otherwise delivered. Cities of the
second class may submit appeals after November 15, as long as
there is compliance with section 11 of this act.
(17.1 amended Dec. 21, 1988, P.L.1437, No.175)
Section 18. Any taxpayer may, at any time during office
hours, have access to the records of taxable property and be
permitted to copy therefrom a list of taxable property.
Section 19. On the first Monday of January, one thousand
nine hundred and forty-two, the terms of all members of the
board for the assessment and revision of taxes and of all
subordinate assessors and clerks employed by the board in
counties of the second class shall cease and terminate, and the
board for the assessment and revision of taxes as now
constituted in counties of the second class is hereby abolished.
On said date all books, records, maps, plans, equipment and
supplies in the possession of the board for the assessment and
revision of taxes shall be turned over and delivered to the
Board of Property Assessment, appeals and review created by this
act.
Section 19.1. Any city in any county wherein a board is
created under this act may become subject to the provisions of
this act, and the mayor and council of any such city may effect
the same by an ordinance duly passed. A copy of such ordinance
approved by the mayor and duly certified, accompanied by a
statement of the vote thereon, with the names of the members of
council voting for and against such ordinance, shall be
forwarded to and filed in the office of the Secretary of the
Commonwealth, and when so filed the Governor shall under the
great seal of the Commonwealth, certify the acceptance of the
provisions of this act, which certificate shall be recorded
among the minutes of the council and in the office for the
recording of deeds in the proper county.
From the date of the completion of such acceptance the
objects, property and persons subject to and exempt from
taxation in such city for city and school purposes shall be
designated by, and the assessment and valuation thereof for such
city and school purposes shall be done only in accordance with
the provisions of this act and by the officers designated in
this act.
Whenever any city accepts the provisions of this act all the
provisions thereof shall apply to such city and any act of
Assembly in force in such city, in so far as it is inconsistent
with the provisions of this act, shall be annulled.
(19.1 added June 20, 1947, P.L.664, No.287)
Section 20. Except where inconsistent therewith, this act
does not repeal any of the provisions of the act, approved the
twenty-second day of May, one thousand nine hundred and thirty-
three (Pamphlet Laws, eight hundred fifty-three), entitled "An
act relating to taxation; designating the subjects, property and
persons subject to and exempt from taxation for all local
purposes; providing for and regulating the assessment and
valuation of persons, property and subjects of taxation for
county purposes, and for the use of those municipal and quasi-
municipal corporations which levy their taxes on county
assessments and valuations; amending, revising and consolidating
the law relating thereto; and repealing existing laws," or its
amendments.
Section 21. The act, approved the twenty-second day of July,
one thousand nine hundred and nineteen (Pamphlet Laws, one
thousand ninety-three), entitled "An act creating, in counties
having a population of from eight hundred thousand to one
million five hundred thousand, a board for the assessment and
revision of taxes; providing for the appointment of the members
of such board by the county commissioners; fixing their
salaries, payable by the county; defining the powers and duties
of such board, and regulating the assessment of property and
occupations for State and county purposes; authorizing the
appointment of subordinate assessors and clerks, defining their
duties and providing for their compensation, payable by such
counties; imposing a penalty on subordinate assessors for
failure to comply with certain provisions of this act, and
abolishing the office of ward, borough, and township assessor,
in so far as respects the assessment of property and occupations
for State and county purposes," and its amendments, are hereby
repealed.
All other acts and parts of acts inconsistent herewith are
hereby repealed.
Continue your research in ChatGPT or Claude
Connect Omnilex to search the legal corpus from your AI assistant.