More than 130 Wilkins property owners apparently have received tax billings from the township based on their 2002 assessments even though they should be taxed on their 2001 values this year under court order.

Wilkins Manager Carolyne Ford said yesterday the township had instructed Jordan Tax Service earlier this year to bill property owners based on the 2002 certified values received from Allegheny County.

The decision was made even though as many as 137 taxpayers in the township may be entitled to be taxed on lower 2001 values this year based on a Feb. 8 ruling by Common Pleas Judge R. Stanton Wettick Jr.

Because of glitches in the county's assessment machinery, Wettick permitted 27,000 property owners countywide to use their 2001 post-appeal values for another year.

Those taxpayers won reductions in appeal hearings last year only to see their assessments increase again in 2002.

County officials said many of the values rose again because they did not take into account errors corrected or other changes made in property characteristics in calculating the 2002 assessments. In his ruling, Wettick said the county should not benefit from such mistakes.

Nonetheless, Ford said the township decided to base its tax billings on an assessment file sent by the county early in the year that contained only 2002 values for all property owners.

In late February or early March, the county provided another file to all municipalities that contained the revised assessments for the 27,000 property owners affected by Wettick's ruling.

Ford said the township did not use the later file because it had to have its tax rate set and its budget adopted by the end of January.

"There was a lot of confusion but we had bills to pay and you need to be timely in what you are doing," she said.

The township, she added, never received any information from the county or the court saying it should not use the 2002 numbers certified in January.

"We just took it straight from what we got from the county," she said. "We figured that would be the cleanest way to operate."

Ford said taxpayers who believe they are entitled to be billed on their 2001 post-appeal value must get documentation from the county and present it to the township's treasurer or tax collector for a refund.

County Assessment Manager Dominick Gambino said the township already has a file that contains that information. However, he added the county is willing to help if the township wants to send out revised bills.

Wilkins taxpayers have until Tuesday to pay their township property taxes at discount and until the end of May to pay them at the face value.

County Treasurer John Weinstein, whose office produces tax bills for 70 local municipalities, said that because of budget deadlines, some of them were sent out using 2002 values before Wettick made his ruling.

In those cases, Weinstein's office later produced revised bills for those taxpayers who were permitted to use their 2001 values. He said his office has received no complaints from taxpayers who were billed at 2002 values when they were entitled to a lower 2001 assessment.

Post-Gazette

-- Anonymous, April 26, 2002