Steel+Valley+Owes+US+Steel+535K+Refund+for+Tax+Reassessment

=By Stacy Lee= =//Published in the McKeesport Daily News//= =//4/19/11//= = =

=Just as Steel Valley School District finished paying off a $709,857 real estate tax reassessment to the Waterfront Apartments, it is being required to pay another $535,000 reassessment refund to U.S. Steel.= =Like Munhall borough, Steel Valley representatives claim they had no idea of this reassessment until recently.= ="I didn`t know about the hearing or the appeal," district business manager Mark Cherpak said. "I`m not sure how they had a hearing when nobody knew about it."= =He said he only heard of this reassessment refund when a U.S. Steel representative contacted him about it April 7.= =Similarly in Munhall, borough manager Matt Galla found out April 8 about the approximate $225,000 Munhall owes to U.S. Steel.= =The school board will discuss the matter tonight at 6 at a financial management committee meeting in the high school conference room.= =The reassessment is regarding the U.S. Steel Research & Technology Center at 800 E. Waterfront Drive from 2006 through 2010.= =The decision to devalue the property from $19 million to $14 million was made by the Allegheny County Board of Property Assessments Appeal and Review in January.= =Last week, Munhall council decided to ask the county Court of Common Pleas for permission to file a late appeal since it wasn`t aware of it.= =Cherpak said the district also will attempt to make some type of appeal.= ="If we do appeal and don`t win, we`ll never be able to pay one check," Cherpak explained.= ="My concern is if U.S. Steel wins, how many other companies will try to appeal? If they appeal, it will cost us so much money."= =Calls to the county Board of Property Assessments Appeal and Review regarding the matter were not returned by presstime.= =Cherpak said Steel Valley just made its last payment to the Waterfront Apartments appeal in 2010.= =The 2008 payment plan of $709,857 was a result of real estate tax payments from 2001 to 2007.= =Steel Valley also would face financial problems if Gov. Tom Corbett`s state budget passes. The district would see a $2.4 million cut in funding.= = = = Read more: [|Steel Valley owes U.S. Steel $535K refund for tax reassessment - Pittsburgh Tribune-Review] [] =

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