EBENSBURG —
Pennsylvania Electric Co./First Energy has filed an appeal in Cambria County court seeking a reduction on the assessed value of its Richland Township property even though it doesn’t pay real estate taxes as other landowners do.
Penelec/First Energy – and other utility companies across the state – pay a tax under the state’s Public Utility Realty Tax Act. The amount is calculated by the Revenue Department and is based on the property’s assessed value.
Penelec/First Energy contends the $1.48 million value assessed on its 12.1.-acre property along Industrial Park Road in the Richland Industrial Park is too high. Two buildings are on the site, assessment records show.
That $1.48 million assessed value converts to a fair market value of
$4.45 million, said the county’s chief assessor, Tamra Forgan.
The county board of assessment appeals, made up of three county residents, refused to make any change. The utility did not have with it an appraisal on the property’s value, Forgan said.
The three local taxing bodies – the county, Richland Township and Richland School District – have been notified of the appeal and have a right to oppose any change.
A breakdown on how much Penelec pays on the parcel was not available.
But Richland Township received a total of $5,338 in a PURTA payment for 2011 on nine parcels, including six owned by Penelec, said Kim Stayrook, a township secretary. If Penelec paid property taxes on its six parcels directly to the township, its bill would have been more than $9,000 this year, she said.
Attorney John Hyon of Clifton, N.J., who represents Penelec/First Energy, says in the appeal that the company’s property has a substantially higher assesment than assessments of comparable properties in the township. The assessment lacks uniformity and is discriminatory, unjust and inequitable, he alleges.
Local News
Utility appeals Richland land assessment to court
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