Lackwanna County Reassessment

Five boards of assessment appeals began hearing Monday the appeals of new values on about 4,200 properties in Lackawanna County as the next phase of reassessment kicked in.

The Community Justice Project, which forced property reassessments in Lackawanna, Schuylkill and Allegheny counties, sued Pennsylvania in the state's Commonwealth Court to get state officials to set standards that include requiring regular reassessments.

More than 102,000 homes, businesses, farms and other real-estate in Lackawanna County have new values developed by the county's first reassessment in more than 50 years.

Taxpayers say Schuylkill County's notice of new property values includes a future tax estimate, but Lackawanna's doesn't. Lackawanna's assessment director says county fears estimates will turn out wrong, angering taxpayers.

WVIA tried to get answers about the county's resassessment, especially whether taxes will rise.

County plans to mail about 50,000 valuations on Friday and about 50,000 more a week later.