Utilizing a Different Method of Tax Valuation In Districts

In City of Lancaster v. County of Lancaster, 143 Pa. Commw. 476, 599 A.2d 289 (Pa. Cmwlth. 1991), appeal denied, 530 Pa. 634, 606 A.2d 903 (1992), the county reassessed ten of its sixty taxing districts because they had a common level ratio that was 15% greater than or less than the county's State Tax Equalization Board (STEB) ratio. In doing so, the county utilized current market values while continuing to utilize base year market values for the other districts. The Court stated that the statute "does not provide authority for a county that utilizes base year market value to suddenly begin injecting current market value into the formula in a selected group of taxing districts without applying the same methodology to all property in the county." Id. at 296. The Court also concluded that, in utilizing a different method of valuation in the ten districts, the county violated the constitutional requirement for tax uniformity. Id.