WESTMORELAND COUNTY LEADERS NOT PLANNING ON PROPERTY VALUE REASSESSMENT ANYTIME SOON

Local leaders in Westmoreland County are not planning to conduct a property value reassessment anytime soon.  The issue is reaching a tipping point with residents of West Leechburg who say they can’t afford to keep paying more and more taxes into the Leechburg Area School District while Armstrong County residents, who are also in the district, are not seeing any hikes.  The tax rates are based on a formula dictated by the state for school systems that cross county lines.  Commissioner Sean Kertes says he knows the decades-old property assessments need to be updated but he cannot justify the cost.  Estimates show a reassessment would take four years and cost about 15-million dollars.