CHAMBERSBURG, Pa. — The Chambersburg borough council voted 9-1 this week to approve the retention of Knox Law in preparation for legal action against Franklin County to force the first countywide reassessment of property, used to calculate local property taxes, the first since 1961.
Franklin County has not conducted a reassessment since 1961, raising concerns about fair property valuation. According to Council President Bill Everly Jr., county officials have said they have no interest in performing the reassessment, resulting in the push to retain legal counsel.
This action was taken at the borough’s meeting on Monday, Sept. 14.
Franklin County, on the other hand, contends its position is fair. “The Franklin County Commissioners affirm that reassessment is not indicated. The county will defend its approach and stand by any court decision,” commissioners said in a statement.
Everly previously represented the council at a meeting with officials from several other Franklin County boroughs to build support for urging county commissioners to conduct the reassessment.
“…our intent is not to sue the county. Our intent is to hopefully negotiate with the county, to keep this out of court and, hopefully, move forward with this,” Everly said.
A few public comments raised concerns that legal fees and the resulting reassessment will raise taxes and negatively impact residents, urging the borough instead to reduce spending and find creative ways to cut budget costs.
The council assured residents that the reassessment is intended to provide fair, up-to-date property valuations, not to raise individual taxes. “…one third of property values will go down, one third will remain the same and one third will go up,” Everly said.
During public comment, former borough Council President Allen Coffman discussed the reassessment and noted that talks with the county have been ongoing. He stated that the reassessment is something county officials are aware of but have been putting off for some time.
“Somebody else says, well, we know it’s got to be done, but we just don’t know when we want to do it. And somebody else says, well, I don’t like taxes. You know what? None of us like taxes.”
Coffman also addressed previous comments made around the concerns of tax increases and suggestions of budget cuts. “And when people talk about cutting the budget and pulling the belt in a little bit, that’s fine…ask people what they want to give up.”
Austin Rosenbaum was the only council member to vote against the retention of legal counsel and the reassessment, though he agrees that there is an issue with the system.
“Ultimately, I do think there’s some real issues with our countywide reassessment,” Rosenbaum said. “…I do think that there are some real issues with the fairness of how our county does it, how old it is and outdated it is.”
He stated that elected county officials should be responsible for dealing with the reassessment. “…it’s really not our responsibility. And I think we’re just going to waste tons of money…our taxpayers’ money on attorneys…and they’re going to litigate it out. And I think it’s a big waste of money.”
Council member David Wilson was in support of seeking legal counsel and pointed out the changes in residential, commercial and industrial properties that have occurred in Chambersburg since 1961.
“So, when we look at fire and EMS, and we look at police, we’re looking at these 21st-century services that the residents expect. And we’re trying to fund these based on a framework that was created in 1961,” Wilson said.
Why reassess?
The Chambersburg borough is close to hitting the millage cap, meaning tax rates cannot be raised further to support essential services, though some flexibility remains. While the borough is in this position now, Everly said this may not be the case in the future.
“Eventually we’re all going to go up against a financial cliff. And if we don’t do this reassessment, we’re going to be forced to do some things that are going to hurt the citizens of this community from a service standpoint. So, we don’t want to raise taxes.”
The process is also a years-long endeavor, where the changes would take three to four years to kick in before people begin to see an increase or decrease in their taxes, and there is no guarantee what financial state the borough may be in a few years down the road.
Should Franklin County agree or be ordered to perform the reassessment, Everly said that an outside firm would be hired to look at blocks of properties within the same medium and perform a county-based assessment.
“…there’s not going to be a person coming to your door saying, hey, your property values are too low or anything like that. It’s going to be a firm that the county has to pay for to come do the data collection for the reassessment.”
Borough Manager Jeffrey Stonehill stated that this is not an opportunity for the borough to raise taxes to generate more money. State law would require a balance of raising and lowering individual property tax rates to keep the revenue generated at neutral.
“You have to lower your millage rate proportional to the increase in assessed value,” Stonehill explained. “…there is a new artificial cap placed on all municipalities so that they can’t take advantage of the situation just to raise taxes.”
According to Stonehill, an adjustment period would follow where the borough would only be able to raise taxes by a few percentage points at a time as people get used to their new property value.
“But it will make it fair going forward. And then the next time council does decide to do a tax increase, those who pay for it will be in proportion to the actual fair market value of their property, not some arbitrary system of divvying out assessed value,” Stonehill said.
