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Eleven years after Luzerne County&rsquo;s reassessment, the real estate values used for property taxation are still well within acceptable accuracy standards, officials said.
				This conclusion from county Manager C. David Pedri and Assessment Director Kristin Montgomery is based on the latest annual outside analysis by the State Tax Equalization Board.
				In each county, the state board compares assessments to actual real estate purchase prices recorded the previous year to see how values are holding up. The new evaluation is based on arm&rsquo;s length transactions from 2019.
				The ideal &ldquo;common level ratio&rdquo; score is 100%, with prices paid closely mirroring assessments.
				This year&rsquo;s county ratio: 94.9%.
				County administrators have argued another reassessment is not warranted as long as the ratio remains within a range of 85 to 115, or plus/minus 15%.
				Ratios over 100 indicate sales prices are landing below assessed values, while those under 100 are a sign more purchases are exceeding assessments, officials have said.
				Montgomery said the new ratio means properties, on average, are selling around 5% more than the assessed values countywide.
				Hired as assessment director in December, Montgomery said one of her goals is completion of an in-house impact study to examine sales and assessments by regions, which would help identify if there are any pockets worthy of monitoring.
				County officials have not honored a resolution passed by prior county commissioners calling for reassessments every four years to prevent the values from getting stale.
				County Manager C. David Pedri said he would not yet recommend a reassessment.
				&ldquo;The new ratio proves we have no need for reassessment at this time. Our numbers are still within an acceptable range,&rdquo; Pedri said.
				Pedri said he does not know what to expect a year from now because that ratio will reflect 2020 sales and the impact the coronavirus pandemic has had on the real estate market.
				Last year&rsquo;s county score was 101.1%.
				The county&rsquo;s percentage started at 99.7 after the reassessment and has since climbed as high as 109.9 in 2013, records show.
				The last reassessment, which took effect in 2009, had been the first mass revaluation since 1965. Four years of sales data were used to calculate the worth of more than 165,000 parcels on the fixed date of Jan. 2, 2008. Assessment challenges have led to thousands of value adjustments, most reductions, since then.
				Among the 67 counties statewide, Luzerne remains among the accuracy leaders with its ratio score, the equalization board report shows.
				Only three other counties have scores closer to 100%, plus or minus: Adams, 104.5; Blair, 96.2; and Indiana, 98.6. Philadelphia is trailing Luzerne, at 94.3%.
				Neighboring Lackawanna is one of three counties in the state with the lowest scores &mdash; an indication many property owners are assessed significantly below market value. Lackawanna&rsquo;s ratio is 9.3%. The percentages are 8.6 in Butler and 8.9 in Bucks, the report said.

Luzerne County’s real estate tax assessments evaluated for accuracy