Some Schuylkill County residents are not happy with the results of the property tax reassessment process, which is expected to increase their property taxes; while others said the county should use different valuations.

Melinda Deibert suggested using property valuations from 2018 and 2019 instead in valuations from 2021, 2022 and 2023 when she said the COVID-19 pandemic artificially made valuations rise.

The new property values are determined by making comparisons to similar properties.

According to the Schuylkill County Assessment Information website, the purpose of the reassessment is to reestablish a fair and equitable tax base for the 2026 tax year and reassessed values are “based on 100% (the predetermined ratio) of the current fair market value as of January 1, 2025 (base year).”

All current assessments are based on 50% of the 1996 market value or 1996 “Clean and Green” values (even for recent construction), the website states.

One resident told the Schuylkill County commissioners his home was revalued at $207,000, and his taxes would go up $1,000 a year.

Commissioner Chairman Larry Padora repeated the county is doing the reassessment because of a lawsuit filed.

“A nonprofit from Philadelphia is suing all counties to do reassessment,” Padora said. “Pennsylvania is the last state that hasn’t fixed reassessment. It should be cyclical, done every five years.”

Padora told residents that if they are hiring an appraiser, the appraisals don’t have to be done by the time their appeal hearing comes up. The deadline to ask for a hearing is Aug. 11. Appeal forms, procedures and regulations are available at www.schuylkillcountypa.gov by clicking on the Reassessment link; or at the Schuylkill County Tax Assessment Office.

Appeals hearings will be held in August, September and October.

The Schuylkill County Commissioners hired Vision Government Solutions of Hudson, Massachusetts in December 2022 to handle the reassessment as part of the county’s settlement in the 2018 lawsuit by the Community Justice Project in Harrisburg.

Assessors began the process of looking at properties in 2023.

The county’s last reassessment had been done nearly 30 years ago. Changes in property values over time mean some property owners are paying too much and others too little.

County officials said in 2023 that the reassessment will result in roughly one-third of property owners paying more, one-third will be paying less, and one-third will pay the same amount.

In other matters, the commissioners voted to send a letter of support to include the county within the service area of Foreign Trade Zone 147 in southeastern Pennsylvania. If included in the zone, companies within Schuylkill County will be able to meet their trade-related needs.