Constitutionality of Property Tax Assessment Questioned

Last week, the State Supreme Court ordered Allegheny County to perform property reassessments due to a lack of uniformity as guaranteed by the State constitution. Most states use the Coefficient of Dispersion (COD) to measure property tax uniformity. A COD score less than 20 is acceptable, but under 15 is ideal. Allegheny County scored 30.2 in 2007.

However, Allegheny is far from the worst offender in Pennsylvania, ranking 26th out of 67 counties. Philadelphia scores worse at 39.5, and Huntingdon County received the honor of having the least uniform property taxes, with a COD of 51.8.

In related news, the administration has new figures on the "property tax relief" for homeowners by school districts.  As the Patriot-News notes, many districts will get "less relief" per homeowner than last year - in other words, a property tax increase (on top of any tax increase the district might enact).