Schuylkill County‘s looming reassessment is expected to have a price tag of about $7.4 million.

“We are shopping in the market aggressively, including banks or possibly a bond issue to see which way we’re going to get the better deal for the taxpayers,” county finance Director Paul E Buber said after a commissioners’ meeting Wednesday.

The $7.4 million is approximate. He described it as a “good faith” figure.

Buber could not provide more details because a contract with a Massachusetts company to perform the reassessment has yet to be finalized.

Buber says the figures are ballpark until the contract is finalized, which will happen “in the near future.”

County commissioners on Dec. 14 hired Vision Government Solutions Inc., Hudson, pending a finalized contract.

County solicitors and the Tax Assessment Bureau are negotiating the agreement, which has to be in place by Dec. 29, according to a lawsuit filed in 2018 by Community Justice Project, a Harrisburg nonprofit organization, to force the reassessment. It was settled by the county in May.

The suit argued that county property evaluations were unfairly determined and created an inequitable tax burden.

The last reassessment was in 1996.

Vision Government Solutions was among three companies that responded to the county’s requests for quotes.

Once the contract is in place, by early next year, trained data collectors will begin gathering information from property owners through data mailers, site visits and in-person interviews.

Property owners will be notified by the county before June 1, 2025, and given an opportunity for an informal review and the ability to correct any data errors.

Change of assessment notices will be mailed on or before July 1, 2025, with the new value, and property owners can begin the formal appeal process to the county Board of Assessment Appeals. The new assessed values will take effect Jan. 1, 2026.