Some Schuylkill County Property Owners Will Likely See Massive Changes to Their Tax Bills in 2026

Property owners in Schuylkill County are justifiably getting nervous as the final results of the ongoing tax reassessment will be known by the end of this year. And since the process began, one line has been repeated over and over regarding that end result:

About one-third of property owners will see a tax increase, about one-third will see a decrease, and about one-third won’t see much (or any) change at all.

During the recent public meetings on Schuylkill County’s property tax reassessment, Tim Barr of Vision Government Solutions, the company conducting the process here, illustrated that narrative with case studies from previous reassessments he’s done in other counties.

He also explained why some property owners can expect to see massive changes, good and bad, to their tax bills next year.

The reality is this: While many property owners won’t see those massive changes to their property tax bills next year, some definitely will. But Barr says those changes are necessary to balance the tax burden.

Case Studies: Blair and Tioga Counties

During the recent public meetings – held within five Schuylkill County school district territories – Barr showed examples from two Pennsylvania counties’ recent reassessments, Blair and Tioga.

Blair County property taxes were compared from 2016 and 2017 to show the old rates and the new. Barr said he used a $150 fluctuation in property taxes (combining county, school, and municipal) to denote a “significant” change in a property owner’s bill.

Based on the data he provided from that reassessment, 33% of property owners had their taxes stay mostly the same, meaning their bills didn’t go up or down by more than $150.

Another 36% of property owners saw a significant increase (more than $150). And 31% experienced a significant decrease.

The numbers were relatively similar in Tioga County. Barr used data from 2023 and 2024 to compare old and new tax bills there.

In Tioga County, after the reassessment, 41% of property owners had their tax bills largely unchanged. Meanwhile, 32% saw an increase of at least $151 and 27% had their bills decreased by $151 or more.

Massive Changes

Digging deeper into those numbers reveals that, yes, some property owners will see some truly significant changes – a lot more than $150 – to their tax bills next year in Schuylkill County.

Based on the two county examples Barr provided, 8% of property owners in Blair County saw their bills increase or decrease by $701 or more dollars. In fact, 3% of property owners saw bills go up or down by at least $1,201.

In Tioga County, that figure was 7% of property owners who saw a change, for better or worse, of more than $701 year over year. Among that group, 2% saw tax bills go up more than $1,200 after the reassessment. And 3% saw their bills go down by that much.

Barr: “We Need to Make It Right” After Years of Uneven Tax Burdens

Barr says the reason some property owners will see large fluctuations in their tax bills after a reassessment is simple: they haven’t been paying taxes based on the current value of their property. That’s because the last countywide reassessment in Schuylkill County was nearly 30 years ago, in 1996.

Since then, assessed values have failed to keep pace with rising market values. The county’s current Common Level Ratio Factor is 4.88, meaning the average property is selling for nearly five times its assessed value. At the time of the last reassessment, that ratio was closer to 2, indicating market values were about double the assessments then.

Barr says a reassessment is meant to restore fairness to the property tax system by ensuring everyone pays based on up-to-date values.

“I feel bad for the folks on the far end whose taxes went up by over $1,200,” Barr said. “But you know what, they needed to, because they were paying a fraction of what their property was worth. We need to make it right.”

To learn more about the reassessment process and a more thorough explanation of why there will likely be massive swings in property tax bills for some Schuylkill County owners next year, check out the presentation we recorded from Pine Grove Area High School on March 24:

MORE TO COME: We’ll have more reports on the next steps involved in the Schuylkill County Property Tax Reassessment and what options property owners have before new rates go into effect.

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