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Meet The Board

Charles "Tom" Dean, Chairman - Life long resident of Lawrence County who was born and raised in Wilmington Township.  Tom has been involved in Real Estate for over 20 years in Lawrence County and good standing Member of the Lawrence County Board of Realtors.  Tom has been on the Lawrence County Board of Assessment Appeals for 18 Years and has  been appointed Chairman for 14 of those, 18 years.

Joseph Carofino -  Life long resident of Lawrence County who was born and raised in Ellwood City and currently resides in Wayne Township.  Joe has been involved in Real Estate for over 25 years and has served twice as President of the Lawrence County Board of Realtors.  He also serves on many legislative committees for the Pennsylvania Association of Realtors (PAR).  Joe has served on the Lawrence County Board of Assessment Appeals for 18 Years.

John W. "Jack" McConahy - Life long resident of Lawrence County and Mahoning Township.  Jack started his real estate career in the mid 1990’s and received his Real Estate Appraisal license in 1998. Jack has worked full time as a certified appraiser for the past 20+ years.  Jack recently retired from the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation with 12 years of service as a real estate appraiser in the department’s right-of-way unit where he performed appraisals for the state to arrive at compensation for property owners impacted by acquisitions through eminent domain maintenance and enhancement projects.  Jack was appointed to the Board of Assessment Appeals in 2022.

ABOUT THE BOARD

The Board of Assessment Appeals is charged with determining the market value of the property as of the date such appeal was filed before the board and shall apply the established predetermined ratio to that value and/or the common level ratio last published by the State Tax Equalization Board. The Board is also charged with determining if a property qualifies for Tax Exemption, make changes to the tax rolls and make decisions on the County's LERTA program also known as the Abatement Program.

Act 155 of 2018 requires all Board of Appeals members to be trained in order to hear Assessment Appeal Hearings. Board members have 6 Months from the time of their appointment to be trained. The training Curriculum shall include:

1. Three hours of training on the assessment valuation process in this Commonwealth.
2. Three hours of training on the legal and constitutional issues relating to the assessment process in this Commonwealth and the duties and responsibilities of board members.
3. In the case of board members, three hours of training on real estate exemptions.

The Board of Assessment Appeal is appointed to a two or four year term in accordance to Title 53, Section 8851. On January 6th, 2020, the Lawrence County Board of Commissioners Appointed the above mentioned Lawrence County residents to serve as the Board of Assessment Appeals for 2020 and 2021.

APPEAL PROCEDURES HIGHLIGHTS

PLEASE NOTE:  All Real Property Assessment Appeals must be properly filed with the Board of Assessment Appeals not later than 4:00 P.M., prevailing time, August 1 of each year. Any appeal application received after the filing date, whether or-not the same was mailed prior thereto, will be rejected as untimely filed.  PAYMENT MUST BE RECEIVED AT TIME OF APPLICATION.

Property owners will be given at minimum 20 days notice of their scheduled hearing per Section 8844 of the Consolidated Assessment Law .  All hearings will be heard at the Courthouse in the Commissioner's Meeting Room located on the 1st floor of the new courthouse.  As stated in the rules and regulations, any Appraisals being used as evidence in the hearing must be submitted 10 days prior to the hearing.  Appraisals not submitted 10 days prior may risk not being considered as evidence at the hearing.   Appraisals used for Assessment Appeals purpose shall have the intended user as the Board of Assessment Appeals.

The Board of Assessment Appeals is charged with determining the market value of the property as of the date such appeal was filed before the board and shall apply the established predetermined ratio to that value and/or the common level ratio last published by the State Tax Equalization Board.  Therefore, the testimony and evidenced submitted to the board must represent the properties owners position when it comes to the current market value of the property.
AUTHORIZED REPRESENTATIVE: In cases in which an individual property owner cannot attend the appeal hearing, their attorney or a person presenting a sign and notarized durable or limited power of attorney will only be permitted to represent the property owner.

• All properties owned by a Limited Liability Company (LLC) or corporation not limited to a Public, Professional, Private, or Non-Profit MUST be represented by an Attorney.

• If not identified on the Appeal Application a letter with mailing address of the authorized representative should be submitted at time of application so proper notice can be sent.

Property owners wanting to file an Assessment Appeal can download the application for appeal and view the rules and regulations by clicking the link below.

Assessment Appeal Procedures, Application and Rules and Regulations