Reassessment Fears Expressed to Schuylkill County Commissioners

Most Schuylkill County property owners have now received their 2025 Final Reassessment Value Notification—and for some, the numbers are triggering confusion, frustration, and fear of losing their homes.

Most of Wednesday’s Schuylkill County Commissioners meeting was spent hearing from residents who voiced fears and frustrations about rising property taxes caused by the ongoing reassessment.

The reassessment appeals period begins next month. By year’s end, Schuylkill County will set a new millage rate based on the updated property values. Municipalities will follow suit, and school districts are expected to adjust their rates next summer.

At Wednesday’s meeting, Commissioners heard from residents who fear they’re going to lose their homes due to the reassessment because of the new tax bill they’re expecting to receive.

“I work with senior citizens,” Steve Moyer, of Pottsville, said. “They are scared. They are upset. They don’t know how they’re going to stay in their house.”

This reassessment is the first one in Schuylkill County since the mid-1990s. The gap between reassessments has resulted in massive spikes in property values between then and now.

That, alone, is causing some grief among many property owners in Schuylkill County.

While some are actually seeing their property taxes reduced, others are not as fortunate and some claim they’re going to be forced to pay as much as three times what they’ve been paying in property taxes next year.

“My taxes went up three times,” Sue Reed, of Pottsville, told Commissioners. “I don’t even get that much in Social Security. How do you expect me to pay these taxes when my one month of Social Security doesn’t even cover it? So, one month, I can’t eat. I can’t pay my bills. I pay my taxes instead? Three times is a lot of money for a senior citizen. It’s disgusting.”

While Commissioners did not address anyone’s specific claims about their personal tax situation, they did express frustrations with the reassessment laws and their ability to collect revenues from other sources besides a person’s physical property.

As they have since the beginning of the process, Commissioners say state laws opened Schuylkill and other counties to the lawsuit that resulted in the reassessment.

They also expressed a desire to see legislators in Harrisburg pass a law that mandates more frequent reassessments to prevent the sort of sticker shock that many property owners in Schuylkill County are currently experiencing.

Commissioner Larry Padora, as he’s said in the past, also wished that the state would allow counties to implement other taxes, like an additional sales tax, to reduce the burden on property owners.

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