On another post Anonymous wrote:
"Has anyone followed the $10 million real estate tax revenue shortfall
for the school district? By the time all appeals have run their course,
this will grow, perhaps closer to 10% of that line item budget.
I
have to wonder if the Solicitor will have the Board contract with CSI,
the private investigation firm, to figure out what went wrong?
Perhaps we can save the district some money.
1.
In 2001, the district accounted for appeals, leveraging testimony by
the former finance director, and walking away with a court order from
Wettick that escrowed the difference until the appeals were complete. It
took a couple of years, but in the end the business manager was
correct. Perhaps Camarda and Joseph should have leveraged the 2001
analysis rather than fumbling in the dark.
2. The attorney that filed the case that caused the latest round of reassessment was...drumroll...Law Offices of Ira Weiss.
3.
It is important to note that the single largest profit center at the
Law Offices of Ira Weiss is...drumroll...tax appeals on behalf of
municipalities. Congratulations counselor, your desire to make a few
more dollars will cause the City Schools $10+ million a year for years
to come.
4. The solution path would have been to work with judge Wettick to work around the Act 1 limits. What a missed opportunity.
"
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5 comments:
Priceless! A real summarization gem! Thank you!
At the risk of being attacked on this board, let me say that I live in Oakland a had a huge tax increase. There is only so much the tax payer can afford before we have to move away or lose our houses. Most of us just don't have anymore money.
All I'm asking is to consider the taxpayer along with the staff and students. Our voice needs to be heard too.
From yesterdays PG on the subject. The bigger problem is not from local residents appealing their assessments but by corporations trying to get out of paying their share.
http://www.post-gazette.com/local/city/2013/12/06/City-takes-heavy-hit-from-final-assessment-figures-City-schools-feel-financial-pinch-from-tax-appeals/stories/201312060132
Not to take the school district off the hook here, but if the appeals process had such an incredible reduction in values (and it definitely did) then the original reassessment process needs to be seriously questioned. It's pretty plain that they purposely shot high on the reassessments (again not the district's fault or even something they are remotely involved in) knowing that the appeals process could always clean up their mistakes. Not only is that incredibly unfair to all of the property owners who had to work to get their property values appealed but its also hurting the district as well.
Huge chunks of the revenue go to corporations to pay for tests, curriculum, and consultants. Lots of wasted revenue on things kids do not really need
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