| 1.0 The Setting and Purpose of Propertytaxestimator.net |
| 2.0 Data Sources and Methodology of 2012 and 2013 Property Tax Estimates |
| 2.1 DATA SOURCES |
| 2.2 Methodology |
| 3.0 Research Team |
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1.0 The Setting and Purpose of Propertytaxestimator.net By the close of 2012, Allegheny County, its 130 municipalities, and 45 school districts will be receiving final, certified assessed values for real estate tax purposes from the Office of Property Assessments of Allegheny County Goverment. These final, certified assessments are to be used in the determination of 2013 real estate taxes for Allegheny County Government, all municipalities including the City of Pittsburgh, and the Pittsburgh Public Schools. These 2013 assessments reflect the court-ordered reassessment. It is already known that the taxable 2013 certified assessed values will be considerably higher than the current, 2012 assessed values. Allegheny County's total, reassessed taxable real estate base for 2013, after homestead and other exclusions, is 38% higher than the 2012. This 38% overall figure reflects the data obtained from the Allegheny County Office of Property Assessments as of April, 2012. The municipality by municipality increases and the school district by school district tax base increases are displayed on this website at http://www.propertytaxestimator.net/assumptions.html. There are currently 103,000 real estate taxpayers< who have appealed their 2013 certified assessed values; in some instances taxing jurisdictions have also appealed these assessments. Because the data as of 8/15/2012 in this web site does not reflect the results of appeals. A Right to Know Request was sent 8/14/2012 to the appropriate authorities, and upon receiving the results of this data request, the tables in this web site will updated. Obviously, if taxpayers are able through appeals process to lower their certified 2013 values, then the revenue neutral millages for 2013, for all levels of govenrment, must be increased. This web site will update its certified 2013 value several times before the close of 2013 so that anyone can see what their final property tax bill is converging to. The purpose of this website is to enable anyone to quickly see the impact of Allegheny County's real estate reassessments on the land and building values for 2013 compared to 2012. In particular, once a property is located by school distrist and municipality, and then address or property identification number, and selected below in Panel C, the gross real estate taxes due in 2013 are calculated, displayed, and compared to the actual 2012 property taxes due. Under Judge Stanton Wettick's March 20, 2012 Court Order, the final revised certified assessment values, reflecting the effects of all appeals to the 2013 values, must be provided by the Office of Property Assessments to< all taxing bodies by December 17, 2012. Under state law, the 2013 millages that Allegheny County, the municipalities,< and the Pittsburgh Public Schools must adopt are required to be adopted by April 2 of 2013. Under Act 72 of 2004, any reassessment must be "revenue neutral." This web site interprets "revenue< neutral" to mean that in the first instance (which means before a separate vote to increase millage by the taxing body, actual 2012 property tax collections must be the same in 2013 for Allegheny County, each school district and each municipality. Because the certified taxable 2013 assessed values are larger than the taxable 2012 taxable values, the first vote of the taxing jurisdiction must be to reduce the millage in 2013 to a level which yields identical real estate tax liabilities for 2012. This breakeven millage may be added to as a result of Act 1 of 2006 which limits the tax rate increase that a taxing body may vote to raise to the increase in the Consume Price Index. This increase may be appealed to the Pennsylvania Department of Education, and in Allegheny County 15 school districts appealed and were granted increases above the inflation rate by the Pennsylvania Department of Education. http://www.propertytaxestimator.net/assumptions.html shows the dollar equal yield millage for Allegheny County, and the 130 municipalities for CY 2012 and 2013. The county and the municipalities must adopt 2013 millages on or before April 2, 2013. All school districts, except Pittsburgh, are on a July 1, 2012 - June 30, 2013 fiscal year, and the assessments to be used by these school districts are the 2012 or "base year" assessments. Pittsburgh is on a calendar fiscal period, and will be using the 2013 or "new" assessments, and will adopt their millage on or before April 2, 2013. The sources of data and tax rates used in this web site are as follows: 2.0 Data Sources and Methodology of 2012 and 2013 Property Tax Estimates 2.1 DATA SOURCES: 2012 certified taxable assessed land and building is from the Office of Property Assessments, Allegheny County 2013 certified taxable assessed land and building is from the Office of Property Assessments, Allegheny County 2012 Municipality Millage Rates (Building & Land): County Treasurer, Website 2012 School Districts Millage Rates (Building & Land): County Treasurer: Website 2012 Municipality, School Districts, County Homestead Exclusion Amount: PA Municipal Tax Statistics, Website 2012-2013 Building and Land Millage Increase as a Result of Referendum Exceptions for All School Districts: PA Department of Education, PDF 2.2 Methodology: 1) Calculation of County Tax Bases and Millages
For all taxable properties, the 2012 county building tax base is the 2012 certified county building assessed value; the 2013 county building tax base is the 2013 certified county building assessed value.
2) Calculation of Municipality Tax Bases and MillagesFor all taxable properties, the 2012 county land tax base is the 2012 certified county land assessed value; the 2013 county land tax base is the 2013 certified county land assessed value. The 2012 county tax is the product of the 2012 county tax base and the 2012 county millage rate. Due to revenue neutrality, the 2013 county millage rate is calculated as the ratio of 2012 county tax to the 2013 county tax base.
For all taxable properties, the 2012 municipality building tax base is the 2012 certified fair market building value minus the municipality homestead exclusion amount if applicable.
3) Calculation of School District Tax Bases and Millages:Assuming the 2013 municipality homestead exclusion amount is the same as the 2012 municipality homestead exclusion amount, for all taxable properties, the 2013 municipality building tax base is the 2013 certified fair market building value minus the municipality homestead exclusion amount if applicable. We assume that a property is entitled to both municipality and school district homestead exclusion if it has county homestead exclusion. Therefore, the municipality homestead exclusion amount is applied when the county homestead flag equals to .HOM.. If the municipality and or school district does not offer a homestead, then the exclusion amount is $0.0 For all taxable properties, the 2012 municipality land tax base is the 2012 certified fair market land value; the 2013 municipality land tax base is the 2013 certified fair market land value. The 2012 municipality tax is the product of the 2012 municipality tax base and the 2012 municipality millage rate. Due to revenue neutrality, the 2013 municipality millage rate is calculated as the ratio of the 2012 municipality tax to the 2013 municipality tax base
For all taxable properties, the 2011-12 school district building tax base is the 2012 certified fair market building value minus the 2011-12 school district homestead exclusion amount if applicable.
3.0 Research TeamAssuming the 2012-13 school district homestead exclusion amount is the same as the 2011-12 homestead exclusion amount, for all taxable properties, the 2012-2013 school district land tax base (except for City of Pittsburgh) is the 2012 certified fair market building value minus the 2012-13 school district homestead exclusion amount if applicable. For all City of Pittsburgh taxable properties, the 2012-2013 school district building tax base is the 2013 certified fair market building value minus the 2012-13 school district homestead exclusion amount if applicable. Assuming the 2013-14 school district homestead exclusion amount is the same as the 2012-13 homestead exclusion amount, for all taxable properties, the 2013-14 school district building tax base is the 2013 certified fair market building value minus the 2013-14 homestead exclusion amount if applicable. We assume that a property is entitled to both municipality and school district homestead exclusion if it has county homestead exclusion. Therefore, the school district homestead exclusion amount is applied when the county homestead flag equals to .HOM.. For all taxable properties, the 2011-12 school district land tax base is the 2012 certified fair market land value, and the 2012-13 school district land tax base (except for City of Pittsburgh)is the 2012 certified fair market land value. For all City of Pittsburgh taxable properties, the 2012-13 school district land tax base is the 2013 certified fair market land value. For all taxable properties, the 2013-14 school district land tax base is the 2013 certified fair market land value. As a result of referendum exceptions, the 2012-13 school district millage rates are the sum of 2011-2012 school district millage rates and the 2012-13 allowable millage increases. The 2012-13 school district tax is the product of the 2012-13 school district tax base and the 2012-13 millage rate. Due to revenue neutrality, the 2013-14 school district millage rate is calculated as the ratio of the 2012-13 school district tax to the 2013-14 school district tax base. Professor Robert Strauss, Principal Investigator Ms. Bingbing Hou, SAS database manager Ms. Mengrui Zhang, web designer Ms. Elaine Wei, fiscal analyst Mr. David Strauss, web programmer 8/15/2012 |