Reassessment firm chosen by Adams has problems in Northeastern Pa. job

Oct 19, 2008 (The Evening Sun - McClatchy-Tribune Information Services via COMTEX) -- TCHC | Quote | Chart | News | PowerRating -- A company Adams County preliminarily selected to conduct a property-value reassessment is entangled in problems with a similar job it conducted in northeastern Pennsylvania.

The county commissioners chose 21st Century Appraisals Inc. to complete Adams County's reassessment since 1990, and the county is developing a contract to have its properties reappraised during 2009 and 2010 for implementation in 2011.

But 21st Century Appraisals Inc. also is involved in a squabble in Luzerne County resulting from that county's first reappraisal since 1965. About 18,500 appeals have been filed as a result of the assessments, The (Wilkes-Barre) Times-Leader reported.

Gene Porterfield, operations director and chief operations officer of 21st Century, said he does not expect problems the company has had in Luzerne County to affect its Adams County project. The problems are typical, he said, and fewer appeals were filed in LuzerneCounty than anticipated.

Adams County Commissioner George Weikert said the county was aware of problems 21st Century encountered elsewhere and saw information in newspapers from other counties where the company had worked. He said the county took that information into account when making its decision.

21st Century has worked for Adams County previously, including upgrading software and conducting the county's last reassessment, according to the company's Web site.

Weikert said he does not think Luzerne County's problems were 21st Century's fault and instead dealt with the way the process was handled. Adams County plans to set up timelines and establish a committee to review data from the reassessment as it is received, he said.

"We're going to put things in our agreement, in our contract, where we can be assured the process is going to be reviewed," Weikert said.

21st Century was one of three companies Luzerne County considered for its reassessment. Luzerne County paid $8 million to 21st Century for the project, but that amount has grown about another $1 million as a result of appeals and reassessment-related staffing, The Times-Leader reported.

Tony Alu, director of assessments for Luzerne County, said a reassessment would be a stressful project for anyone, but 21st Century performed to the best of its abilities and earned his respect.

"I do believe that any company that was up here would have the same problems that (21st) Century had," Alu said. "They're a hard-working company. ... You're going to have problems no matter what. Every study that I have reviewed, every figure that I have, checks out (and) has fallen within acceptable guidelines."

Nearly 20 years

Adams County last conducted a property-tax reassessment in 1990 and passed an ordinance six years later declaring the county would update values every four years.

But another reassessment never happened. And as assessed values continued to grow more outdated, the group Fair Adams County Taxes Now sued the county in 2007, arguing the county did not comply with the "need to maintain uniformity" in property assessments as mentioned in the 1996 ordinance.

The county and FACT Now reached a settlement this year requiring the county to seek proposals from companies able to conduct a reassessment. Under the deal, the county would reassess properties with the idea of applying the new values in the 2010 tax year. The commissioners could petition the court for an extension to finish the process by 2011 if the county did not expect to have enough time to meet the original deadline.

The county received proposals from four companies and preliminarily selected 21st Century for the project. The two sides now are negotiating the contract, but the county could select another company if it and 21st Century do not reach a contract by a 30-day deadline.

Adams County's commissioners estimated the reassessment could cost $1.9 million, but that amount could change depending on if and how the county changes the project's scope.

Working statewide

21st Century has completed projects in 14 Pennsylvania counties and has active projects in 27 other counties in the state, according to its Web site. The site identifies projects ranging from countywide reassessments to software.

Clients include Cumberland County (countywide reassessment), Franklin County (software and software support) and York County ("Clean and Green" reassessment and software).

Weikert said the company is well-versed with "Clean and Green" legislation, which the state implemented to preserve farmland through preferential property-tax assessments.

"They have done assessments for lots of counties in Pennsylvania," Weikert said of 21st Century. "I know there were some counties where they did work and some of their local counties did the field work and did a lot of the value placement out in the field. And I think that relayed into some of the problems they had with their numbers."

21st Century reassessed 153,000 properties in Luzerne County, about 116,000 more than what would be reassessed in Adams County, according to the company's Web site.

"There's always going to be people that complain about the programs," Porterfield said. "But our track record especially for the last 10 years with all the firms that do this business, we are ranked No. 1 in the state. For uniformity and equity ... we continue to rank No. 1.

"It's a nasty business that we do, but we do it the best we can."

Fixing frustration

Residents in Luzerne County have expressed disappointment in the results of the reassessments, resulting in rallies and criticism of county officials.

Residents held a rally about the situation in August and heckled Luzerne County Commissioners Maryanne C. Petrilla, who also was threatened with having her head smashed into a toilet during a break in a commissioners' meeting, the Times-Leader reported.

Tim Barr, 21st Century's representative for Luzerne County, said he was "targeted" when someone allegedly threw a brick at his van while it was parked near that county's courthouse in September, the newspaper reported. A county resident was cited with disorderly conduct for allegedly threatening to shoot reassessment workers and burn down the office, according to the Times-Leader.

The community of Harveys Lake, Pa., has shown interest in seceding from Luzerne County and joining neighboring Wyoming County instead, the newspaper reported.

Luzerne County expects the reassessment process to end in December. The county has been conducting formal and informal appeals about property values, and Alu said about 3,000 appeals are left.

Jason Jarecki, director of communications for Luzerne County, said the county was told to expect about 10 to 20 percent of taxpayers to file appeals, but only about 11 percent did.

"We were well within guidelines," Jarecki said.

Nearly 3,200 Luzerne County residents received revised home values recently, including one homeowner who saw his home's assessed value drop more than $496,000 because his assessment had included a home and garage not actually on his land, The Times-Leader reported.

Luzerne County had more than 12,000 problems with its mapping, a situation that delayed the project for nearly two years, Porterfield said. The company had to use information the count had available, he said, but problems existed, such as where one property was listed as 63 acres when it really is 0.63 acres.

"When you have bad maps, it was difficult to determine what buildings were on what property if nobody was home," Porterfield said.

Luzerne County did not have Geographic Information Systems maps during its 1964 reassessment, Alu said, but now has everything "up and running." And tax-assessment information the county is putting with GIS information matches up perfectly, he said.

"They've taken it to where it needs to be," Alu said.

The company visits each property, Porterfield said, and started from scratch with Luzerne County by taking blank cards into the field to make property records.

Weikert said Adams County has information that is "quite accurate" that it will give to 21st Century for the reassessment process. 21st Century did not propose starting from scratch in Adams County, Porterfield said.

"We haven't worked out the final details yet, but I suspect that that data's been in place for some time," Porterfield said. "And to go into the field with blank cards would be reinventing the wheel."

Taxes and uniformity

While 18 years have passed since Adams County's last reassessment, Luzerne County residents went 43 years without an update. Reassessments should be conducted about every six years to "keep uniformity going as best you can," Alu said.

The length of time between reassessments and the number of properties involved presented challenges, according to Jarecki.

"Our taxes, to be frank, were really out of whack," Jarecki said.

Part of the company's public-relations problems came from a general consensus of people not liking real-estate taxes, according to Porterfield.

Reassessments reflect what properties are worth today, Weikert said, and a lapse of several decades between reassessments -- like that in Luzerne County -- could show a "big jump" to property owners.

"Sometimes that value's a shocker and people don't look at the actual taxes that are involved to be paid there," Weikert said. "It should be the same or close."

A 21st Century official estimated the reassessment increased Luzerne County property values about 20 times, The Times-Leader reported. Luzerne County had many areas that did not keep up with market rates after 43 years without a reassessment, Alu said. Home values could go up yearly, but prices were stuck at 1965 rates, he said.

"When you're paying for municipal services at 2009 prices, there quite a big difference," Alu said. "Everything the tax office does is to achieve uniformity. After 43 years, there's quite a variation in uniformity."

Some of the most vocal critics in Luzerne County also might have been under-assessed for many years, Jarecki said. Ultimately, he said, taxes will decrease for one-third of taxpayers, increase for one-third and stay about the same for one-third.

Probably less than 1 percent of Luzerne County residents saw a "noticeable spike" in their taxes, Jarecki said, but those cases are what the appeals process is for. Jarecki said one resident paid $90,000 for a home later assessed at $700,000, but the company said during the appeals process that it had made a mistake with that property.

Luzerne County tried to "keep the lines open," and "do the right thing," Alu said.

"There were a lot of things done right, here in Luzerne County," he said.

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