Three Montage Mountain-area properties appeal their property taxes to try to get them lowered

Jim Lockwood, The Times-Tribune, Scranton, Pa.
·4 min read

Nov. 14—MOOSIC — Three Montage Mountain area properties — the former Lackawanna County Visitors Center, WNEP-TV and an office building on Glenmaura National Boulevard — are appealing their property tax bills to try to get them lowered.

Meanwhile, the county's first reassessment in more than 50 years remains underway by Tyler Technologies with an expected completion in 2024, county solicitor Frank Ruggiero said.

The county commissioners voted 2 to 1 in May to hire Tyler for $5,178,088 to produce new property values for about 107,000 county real-estate parcels. Local governments and school districts use the values to calculate what home, business and land owners owe in property taxes each year. The county's current assessments rely on 1968 values.

As such, tax appeals are not uncommon and the three involving properties in the Montage Mountain area are unrelated.

In each case, the property owners first appealed their tax assessments to the Lackawanna County Board of Assessment Appeals.

This board made determinations and the property owners then appealed further to Lackawanna County Court of Common Pleas, where each case remains pending.

Most tax appeals filed in county court result in negotiated settlements without trials, Ruggiero said.

"The majority of these are resolved through stipulations," Ruggiero said. "Counsels for all (parties involved), more times than not, are able to work through the issues and come to a negotiated settlement."

The three appeals include:

The former Lackawanna County Visitors Center at Montage Mountain, 99 Glenmaura National Boulevard, Moosic. The building and its 2.3 acres were bought earlier this year from the county for $1.25 million by a company called 2020 Montage Development LLC of Clarks Summit. The building previously had been tax-exempt under county ownership. For the 2022 school tax year and 2023 county and municipal tax years, the property was assessed at $850,000, comprised of $35,000 on the land and $815,000 on improvements. New owner 2020 Montage Development appealed to the assessment board, which in August reduced the assessment to $250,000, comprised of $35,000 on land and $215,000 on improvements. On Sept. 13, the company filed an appeal petition in county court, arguing the reduced assessment is still too high and far exceeds comparable properties. The petition also claims the assessment is discriminatory and violates the uniformity clause of the Pennsylvania Constitution and the 14th Amendment Equal Protection Clause of the U.S. Constitution. The respondents in the case are the assessment board and the three taxing entities of the county, Moosic borough and Riverside School District. So far, only Moosic borough has filed a response in court generally denying the claims in the petition.

WNEP-TV station, 16 Montage Mountain Road, Moosic, which is owned by Tegna Broadcast Holdings LLC of Tysons, Virginia, the parent firm of WNEP. The assessment of the property for 2023 was set at $1,047,000. Tegna first appealed to the county board, which kept the assessment the same. On Oct. 18, Tegna further appealed to county court, arguing the assessment is excessive, discriminatory, contrary to law and lacking uniformity. The respondents in the case are the assessment board and the three taxing entities of the county, Moosic borough and Riverside School District. None filed responses yet. Attempts to reach attorneys for the borough and school district were unsuccessful.

The 53 Glenmaura National Boulevard office building in Moosic and Scranton, which is owned by a firm called 53 Glenmaura LLC of Brooklyn, New York. In an initial appeal to the assessment board, the assessment on the Scranton parcel for 2023 of $1,881,920, comprised of $92,880 on land and $1,769,040 on improvements, was reduced to $1,681,920, comprised of $92,880 on land and $1,569,040 on improvements. The assessment on the Moosic parcel of $298,080, comprised of $123,120 on land and $174,960 on improvements, was reduced to $222,080, comprised of $123,120 on land and $98,960 on improvements. The owner then appealed to county court Oct. 28, arguing the reduced assessments are still excessive, discriminatory and unlawful. The respondents in this case include the assessment board and the taxing entities of the county, Moosic borough, Riverside School District, the city of Scranton and the Scranton School District. Jessica Eskra, solicitor for the city, declined to comment on pending litigation. Attempts to reach attorneys for the Scranton and Riverside school districts and the borough were unsuccessful. Last month, Commonwealth Charter Academy sought zoning approval for an office for a sidebar charter school at 53 Glenmaura National Boulevard, according to public notices in The Times-Tribune.

Contact the writer: jlockwood@timesshamrock.com; 570-348-9100 x5185; @jlockwoodTT on Twitter.