Allegheny County Council passes bill allowing property tax appeals before payments
PITTSBURGH (KDKA) -- Allegheny County Council has passed a bill hoping to make it easier and less confusing to appeal your property taxes.
Right now, when homeowners pay their tax bills in Allegheny County, any appeals come after you pay the full bill. Then you get a second round of bills, and they're retroactive. But now this bill would flip that order around, letting you appeal before you pay, and you'll just pay one bill.
"This bill will eliminate it being retroactive," said Mike Suley, a board member of the Allegheny County Board of Property Assessment Appeals and Review.
Think less confusing and hopefully less time consuming.
"You assess the property, you appeal, and then you pay taxes once instead of twice," Suley said.
Suley has been fighting this for 24 years, wondering why Allegheny County does it backwards.
"You don't pay your taxes until you have your appeal heard first so this will eliminate a lot of the refunds and the additional tax bills," Suley said.
He says the bill will increase transparency around the whole process.
"This is a good thing for the taxing bodies. They'll be able to budget better, there will be more stability, consistency, in the way everyone -- households and taxing bodies -- budget," Suley said.
Homeowners interested in appealing their tax bill will still have some time to do it. If you want to appeal your taxes for next year, you must get in your appeal by Oct. 1.