The company reassessing Lycoming County’s properties is a month into the job and will soon meet with the public to explain what it's doing.
Tyler Technologies began the county’s first assessment since 2004 on Sept. 16 in Watson Township. Data collectors have already moved into Porter and Cummings townships and Jersey Shore Borough. Wise said about 90% of properties have physically changed since the last assessment.
Tyler Technologies senior project supervisor Steve Wise said the company’s goal is to produce a fair assessment so taxpayers shouldn't fear they will pay more in taxes than they should.
“A property's annual assessment should reflect its fair market value. That's our job. The state mandates that we, the assessed values that we publish, are in line with the market,” Wise said. “Our job is to make sure that we assess at a fair market value.”
The county commissioners voted May 23 to hire Texas-based Tyler to conduct new appraisals of about 55,000 parcels of land and the buildings on them. The county will pay Tyler $3,484,620 over the next three years.
Tyler will host the first public meetings to explain the reassessment at 6 p.m. Nov. 12 at Jersey Shore Area Middle School.
“Public meetings are a great opportunity to learn more about the process. Tyler project coordinators like myself along with county officials, are going to make ourselves available at these meetings to answer the public's questions,” Wise said.
Wise said reassessments are not meant to increase or decrease revenues.
“It only apportions the total tax burden more fairly by setting new assessed values. The overall impact on a community is kept by state law,” Wise said. “Property owners may see their taxes increase, decrease or stay the same in regards to the fear over discovering improvements. Updating assessment records allows us to discover those new improvements to ensure equity, that everyone pays their fair share based on what they own on their specific property.”
The assessment works in three phases starting with data collection. Data collectors visit properties to gather exterior information. They carry Tyler identification cards and wear fluorescent vests. Staff only document a property’s exterior and will never enter a home, Wise said.
“We're not under contract to enter any of the houses, so everything is done on the exterior,” Wise said.
Data collectors leave forms in door hangers if a homeowner around when they knock. Homeowners can fill out the forms, which allow for descriptions of a home’s interior, and mail the forms to the county office building, 48 W. 3rd St. Tyler has offices on the fifth and sixth floors and people can stop by anytime during work hours, Wise said.
Wise said Tyler has already received some data mailers.
“We're getting a pretty good return of door hangers,” he said.
Residents are responsible for informing data collectors about interior information such as the number of rooms, permanent heating/air conditioning units, any improvements, number of bedrooms and bathrooms and other features.
Data collectors will photograph a property’s front. Photos help with documentation and reviewing.
“We do a complete walk around but usually we try to get one on the front, if it's possible, whatever photo is going to capture the best view of the property,” Wise said.
Staff also allow local law enforcement agencies and county departments to use the photos, Tyler’s regional appraisal services manager Mary Noldy said.
“If they're trying to verify they're at the right property, those photos are also available for them. It even goes beyond assessment, street level photos and imaging are useful to many other departments in the county,” she said.
The second phase includes data analysis and review. Data analysts look over collected data and judge new property values. This phase will begin halfway through data collection in 2025 and finish in 2027.
Age, building condition, parcel size, added structures and neighboring properties are considered when judging values. Tyler will also look at 2004’s data.
“Once the data is collected, they'll enter all the changes and everything into the county's appraisal system,” Wise said.
Tyler finds property values from three methods, including cost, land income and the property’s operating income or sales comparison, Wise said.
“There's a lot of we're going to look at all three of these approaches, depending on the type of property it is. Typically we're going to lean pretty heavy on the sales comparison approach,” he said. “We're going to look at sales in the local market. There's a sales study that will be conducted for properties that sold within a 30-month period, basically from January ‘24 through the duration of the project at ‘27.”
Phase three begins once all values are set and mailed to property owners in 2027. People can informally review assessments and challenge them before an appeals board if they're unhappy. Wise urges anyone with issues to contact Tyler or visit the county assessor.
“Part of that process, they'll receive a notice of a new tentative assessed value, starting in the spring of ‘27 property owners are encouraged to evaluate whether the assessment appears to be at market value or not. If one believes the appraised value to be at market value, then there's no further action that needs to be required,” Wise said.
New assessed values will go into effect Jan. 1, 2028.
Pennsylvania is a base year state, meaning reassessments generally remain unchanged, Noldy said.
“That's with the exception of any change to the property. If there's development on the property, or improvements added to a property, then the assessment changes,” she said. “When the market fluctuates like this, the rates stay the same and they're applied continually until the next reassessment.”
Visit Tyler’s Lycoming site for more information. The public can also contact the county’s chief assessor and tax claim director Brooke Wright at 570-327-2301 or email assessment@lyco.org.
Tyler Technologies has been a leading appraisal and tax company since 1938. They support more than 1,500 jurisdictions in 49 states and have full-time contracts in seven states, Wise said.
The company is still looking for more data collectors. People can apply online or at Tyler’s county office.
