Properties in the City of Pittsburgh have undergone a County mandated reassessment. On January 12th, Allegheny County Judge R. Stanton Wettick ruled to delay the use of the new assessment numbers for taxing purposes until 2013. For property owners who wish to contest their assessments, the deadline to file formal appeals has been extended to April 2nd of 2012. Informal appeals can also be scheduled by calling the Office of Property Assessment at 412-350-4600 by February 15th of 2012, and are used primarily to correct inaccurate building characteristics on the property record (such as incorrect number of rooms or square footage).

To aid City residents in the appeals process, Council recently passed a resolution directing the City Controller and the Department of Finance to establish a program offering assessment appeal services to residential home owners with a primary residence valued at $150,000 or less in 2011. Services included one-on-one consultation, free legal services, free assistance with appeals filing, and reduced fee appraisal assistance and/or a reduced comparables analysis.