Reassessment Reform Task Force Continues Work in Harrisburg

met again Monday in Harrisburg to continue reforming the Commonwealth's flawed system of conducting property reassessments.

The focus of the meeting—attended by task force members from the Pennsylvania Department of Revenue, State Tax Equalization Board, Assessors Association of Pennsylvania, County Commissioners Association of Pennsylvania, Pennsylvania School Boards Association and legislators appointed by the House Local Government and Finance committees—was what remedies may be available to make the tax-assessment system more uniform for all of Pennsylvania's 67 counties. 

The findings will be presented in a report in early 2012, but some of the recommendations could be enacted and made available to counties sooner in the form of best practices without formal legislative action.

, D-Cecil, who is developing a set of uniform standards for the reassessment process, said he was encouraged by the progress of the discussions but was shocked by the amount of problems the task force has unearthed.

"I've always known that problems with the process existed, but we’ve really been fighting back the tears while we're peeling away at this reassessment onion," White said. "I am simply stunned that so many of these issues have gone unaddressed for so long, but I am excited to be working on both long-term legislative fixes to the system and—maybe more importantly—some immediate remedies that counties like Washington and Allegheny can implement right away."

, D-North Strabane, who is developing new procedures for the collection and verification of reassessment data, echoed White’s sentiments.

"For far too long, reassessments have been conducted without any type of standards for the use of important data," he said. "I look forward to hearing the task force's findings on how to make the process fair for counties and taxpayers."

The task force will continue to meet regularly and is expected to hold regional public hearings in early 2012 to solicit additional testimony and facts in conjunction with the release of the final reassessment report.

For the past year, White and Neuman have been actively working to overhaul the reassessment system in Pennsylvania and have .

. County commissioners argue that the reassessment should not take place until changes to correct flaws in the reassessment process are in place.

White and Neuman have also authored several other reassessment reform and moratorium bills, which are still pending in the Legislature.