Selling a property when buyers know taxes could skyrocket exponentially after the sale can be an arduous task, and it's a reality in several area school districts.

The "spot assessments" are just one of the reasons local Realtors are among the most vocal advocates for Senate Bill 76, property tax elimination, or a similar method of shifting the burden of funding school districts off homeowners.Wednesday morning at Woodstone Country Club in Danielsville, the Greater Lehigh Valley Realtors and Pocono Mountain Association of Realtors hosted an event updating its membership on the ongoing battle for reform out of Harrisburg."We want to be an integral part of the solution to fixing a system that is broken," said GLVR Chief Executive Officer Justin Porembo. "Carbon, Schuylkill and Monroe counties have been some of the hardest-hit areas when it comes to a disparity in property tax."Among the chief issues brought to the forefront Wednesday was the practice of reassessing properties after a sale, which is currently commonplace in Panther Valley, Jim Thorpe and Tamaqua school districts, according to GLVR President Cass Chies.Chies is the broker for a property in one of the districts that was listed at $315,000 before being dropped to $279,000.If the property would sell at $279,000, property taxes would shoot from $6,600 per year to around $11,000."We have to continue to work with our legislators because this impacts everyone," Chies said. "No tax should have the power to take away the American dream of home ownership."Helping to fight on the front line is Kim Roberti, an attorney with the Paramount Abstract title company in Jim Thorpe, who takes on 50 to 60 tax assessment appeals cases a year.In 2011, Roberti had a client who bought a home for just over $300,000. Property taxes rose from $6,000 per year to over $11,048 because of the post-sale reassessment."Through an appeal, we were able to get those taxes down to $8,089, but it's still a significant increase and burden on the buyer," Roberti said.The spot reassessments, he explained, are an easy way for school districts to generate revenue."Some districts do it because they see it as easier to raise those taxes on a property by property basis rather than deal with the entire tax base as a whole," Roberti said. "In Panther Valley's case, we all know they are constantly scratching for money."ReassessmentsCarbon County Commissioners' Chairman Wayne Nothstein attributed Panther Valley's plight to a lack of significant commercial properties to generate tax revenue, and property values that pale in comparison to neighboring districts.If Senate Bill 76 turns out not to be the answer, one of the alternatives is countywide reassessments about every three years. That's not an avenue Nothstein wants to go down."It would cost no less than $4.5 million to the county to get the equipment and so forth to do a reassessment and deal with the appeals," Nothstein said. "The last one was done in 1999. The board hearing the appeals was here day and night."Wednesday's discussion didn't fall on deaf ears as far as Harrisburg is concerned. State Rep. Doyle Heffley heard every word and vowed to continue to champion efforts to pass Senate Bill 76.Because that legislation is a tax shift, from a property tax to increased sales and income tax, there will be winners and losers and it can be tough to sell to those currently winning."Senate Bill 76 will work and it will fund schools, but try selling it in Philadelphia where they don't pay a school property tax," Heffley said. "They pay a city property tax and the city funds the schools. It's a regional issue and in the last election, not one person that voted against it lost their re-election bid."Heffley also put heat on Gov. Tom Wolf to push the bill harder in the Senate."He could have done that last session and he bailed," Heffley said. "He has the leverage to put pressure on them."As strong as the Realtors are advocating for Senate Bill 76, two groups, the Pennsylvania State Education Association and Pennsylvania School Boards Association, are fighting even harder against it.Nobody, Heffley said, carries more influence in Harrisburg than those two groups.Porembo said representatives from area districts were invited to Wednesday's discussions, though none attended."If they won't come to us, we'll go to them and go to their meetings and meet with their superintendents," Porembo said. "We want to work with them to come up with something that's fair for everyone."