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Attorney bought townhouse in October, but property value not assigned until Thursday.
Butler Township attorney Robert Powell bought a Wright Township townhouse for $349,000 in October, but Luzerne County’s assessment office didn’t assign a property tax value to it until Thursday.
County minority Commissioner Stephen A. Urban demanded this week that it be put on the tax rolls.
County assessment director Tony Alu said his staff was alerted to the property purchase earlier this year and had been monitoring the property for signs that it was occupied.
The office’s past practice has been to try to wait until new homes are occupied to value them, though such a wait is not required once a property has been sold, Alu said.
Assessor’s field workers periodically check new properties after they are sold. If the building isn’t occupied after several checks, the county assigns a value, Alu said.
Alu said he agreed that the county had waited long enough, so his staff revisited the property Thursday and valued it at $17,450, which equates to a current market value of about $349,000.
Alu noted that the worker who visited the townhouse Thursday observed three chairs inside, a possible sign that it’s being occupied.
However, Alu said occupation is irrelevant because the property is not a developer “spec home” and because it has been sold by the development owner, W-Cat Inc.
The law says spec homes, which are homes built without first having a contracted buyer, can’t be valued within 30 months unless they are sold or become occupied.
The assessor’s office will also make sure the reassessment company, 21st Century Appraisals Inc., is aware of the property so it is assigned a new assessed value as part of the countywide revaluation project, Alu said.
Alu said the identity of property owners has no influence on how fast properties are valued.
“It wasn’t done on purpose. I have no idea who these people are,” said Alu.
Powell’s relationship with county Court of Common Pleas President Judge Mark Ciavarella and Michael Conahan, a senior judge, came under scrutiny after it was revealed the three had current or former ties to the W-Cat Inc. real estate development firm.
Conahan and Ciavarella each listed financial ties to W-Cat on statements of financial interest they filed for 2007.
Powell has acknowledged he was part owner of W-Cat, but said he sold his interest to Luzerne County Prothonotary Jill Moran in 2004. Moran is a partner in the Powell Law Firm.
The revelation of the financial ties prompted Urban and county Commissioner Maryanne Petrilla in May to call for an investigation to determine if that relationship influenced the decision to utilize the PA Child Care in Pittston Township, which was co-owned by Powell until his partner bought out his interest earlier this year.