35 Pa. Commw. 395 | Pa. Commw. Ct. | 1978
Opinion by
Appellants, Hoffman Tire, Inc. and Upper Hanover Township Industrial Development Authority, seek review of the dismissal by the Montgomery County Court of Common Pleas of an appeal of a real estate tax assessment by the Montgomery County Board of Assessment Appeals (Board). Appellees herein are the Board, Montgomery County (County), Montgomery Township (Township) and the North Penn School District. We affirm the decision of the court below.
The only error on appeal here is that the lower court erred in holding Section 17 of the Act renders all information' obtained from the STEB inadmissible in a local tax appeal, including data submitted by the county to the STEB.
Section 17 of the Act provides that “ [n]othing contained in this act (created for the purpose of equalizing state school subsidies) shall be construed to change or affect the validity of the assessed valuation of any real property for the purpose of levying taxes by any political subdivision.” Since a challenge by a taxpayer is an attempt to change or affect the taxes levied in a local subdivision our Courts have held that Section 17 prohibits the findings or reports of the STEB from being admitted into evidence in a tax assessment appeal. See La Rose Dwellings, Inc. v. Allegheny County Board of Property Assessment, 205 Pa. Superior Ct. 587, 211 A.2d 104 (1965); Schenley Land Co. v. Allegheny County Board of Property Assessment, 205 Pa. Superior Ct. 577, 211 A.2d 79 (1965). As this Court stated in Pittsburgh Miracle Mile Town and Country Shopping Center, Inc., Tax Appeals, 6 Pa. Commonwealth Ct. 187, 294 A.2d 226 (1972), we will adhere to these rulings absent legislative action or a Supreme Court ruling.
Appellants, however, contend that LaRose, supra, and Schenley, supra, are not dispositive of the issue presented here. They assert this case is distinguishable because the only data used by Dr. Shehkel to determine the ratio of assessment in the County to market valuations were sales figures supplied by the
.Since we find the lower court properly dismissed the appeal on the basis of the exclusion of STEB data to determine a common level ratio, we need not address the question of whether a taxpayer may attack an assessment by the use of sales data obtained for the calendar year during which the assessment was made.
Accordingly, we will enter the following
Order
And Now, May 19, 1978, the order of the Court of Common Pleas of Montgomery County at No. 75-06140 dated August 27,1976 is hereby affirmed.
Following the decision of the court, appellants filed a petition for a rehearing with the lower court for the purpose of showing that the data used by Dr. Shenltel is identical to that in county records. However, since appellants had to perfect their appeal to this Court of the August 27, 1976 order within 30 days, appeal was made to this Court on September 21, 1976. The next day the lower court granted the petition for a rehearing and appellants then filed a request for a remand with this Court. This request was denied in an order by President Judge Bowman in an order dated December 2,1976.