Attorney Noah Fardo Obtains 10.5 Million Dollar Allegheny County Property Tax Reduction.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
(Free-Press-Release.com) January 25, 2012 -- Attorney Noah Paul Fardo, of the Pittsburgh law firm, Flaherty Fardo, LLC has successfully litigated a 10.5+ million dollar Allegheny County property tax assessment reduction for a commercial property owner in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The 3 year property tax appeal recently resolved in the Allegheny County Board of Viewers Court resulted in a commercial property tax savings in excess of $411,000.00.

The appeal deserves attention for the strategy and approach used in obtaining the reduction, by ignoring the 2002 base year value and instead focusing on changing financial conditions in the current economy in Allegheny County and Western Pennsylvania.

Contrary to the recent trend in Allegheny County property tax assessment appeals, the appeal was won using the current fair market value of the property as opposed to the 2002 Allegheny County base year value. Most Allegheny County property assessment appeals are currently being litigated utilizing the 2002 base year value, arguing that property values were less in 2002.

What most taxpayers do not know is that in the 2011, and 2012, Allegheny County property owners have been able to choose whether to use the 2002 base year value or the current market value in fighting property tax assessment appeals. If a property value has declined, or if there has been a significant change in vacancies or income, then it makes sense for property owners to ignore the 2002 base year, and focus on the current depreciation value of the property.

Fardo attributes the success of the appeal on changing commercial vacancy rates in western Pennsylvania. "The income and expense reports for the property simply did not support the current assessment," said Fardo. "Investors would never have paid what the property was assessed at, and the reduction was fully warranted by both the income approach and current Pennsylvania assessment law."

The income approach for Allegheny County property assessment appeals is typically defined as 'that value which would afford an investor the prevailing expected rate of return on his investment, plus recapture of his investment'.

Pennsylvania property assessment law mandates that a valuation method (i.e. comparable sales approach, income approach or cost approach) must be used in order to change a property assessment. In this commercial appeal, attorney Fardo utilized the income approach because he believed it represented the most appropriate and accurate way to demonstrate that this commerical property had significantly declined in value.

If you have additional questions about a commercial property tax appeal in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, please contact attorney Noah Paul Fardo, Esq. at 412.802.6666.

More information can be found online at http://pghfirm.com/

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