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Published July 25. 2023 02:45PM
by Jarrad Hedes jmhedes@tnonline.com
A Lehighton Area School District proposal for spot assessments after property sales has the local real estate community concerned.
Several local Realtors told board members during a school board meeting Monday night the idea of picking and choosing certain properties for assessment is unfair.
“We lived through this fiasco the last time Lehighton chose to do this around 15 years ago,” Realtor Aggie Schoenberger said. “Jim Thorpe has been reassessing for a few months now. It has meant more days on the market for homes and lots of price reductions. This practice drops property values and it’s really not fair.”
Board President Joy Beers said the district considered the policy because they found it unfair that people on a fixed income with actual low assessed property values paid similar real estate taxes to those who may be in a $300,000 home.
“We don’t like when we feel as if the poor are paying taxes for the wealthy,” Beers said.
Spot assessments, Jim Thorpe attorney Kim Roberti said, may take things too far. Roberti said a post-sale property assessment could mean an extra $1,000 for the new homeowner while a 1 percent tax increase may mean just $32 per year for everyone across the board.
“It pains me that at a time when housing affordability is at an all-time low, something is proposed to make it even more expensive on people,” Roberti said.
A move to spot assessments could impact local developer Jake Arner’s plans to bring “around 100 high level homes into the area.”
“I have a group who wants to bring those homes here and we’re in final negotiations,” Arner said. “Your decision on this could impact whether they choose to come here. People invest in areas where they see value, but spot assessments depress property values a great deal.”
Beers acknowledged spot assessments would only be a band-aid and the district believes a fairer solution is attainable.
In March, the district voted to write a letter to the Carbon County Commissioners asking them to consider a countywide reassessment.
“That’s really the best way to solve this,” Beers said.
The last countywide reassessment, which was court ordered, was completed in 2000 and cost just over $2 million. Before that, it had been 31 years in between reassessments.
Matthew Marks of the Greater Lehigh Valley Realtors Association said his organization would love to partner with the district’s board in their push for a countywide reassessment.
“We have stats from our association from other districts who implemented spot assessment plans,” Marks said. “It did impact the housing market in a negative manner. We’d love to discuss other avenues with the board.”
Beers said Lehighton’s next board workshop, scheduled for Aug. 14, would include a presentation on how county reassessments work.
“I think some people think that with a reassessment, the school district local taxes would double,” she said. “What happens though is the millage would get reset and there are some interesting things that would happen so we want to explain that.”
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