Carbon County commissioners know about the push for a countywide reassessment, but no one has approached them.

And the county would have to pay for the process, Commissioner Chair Wayne Nothstein said Thursday.

“Would the school districts be pushing it if they were required to help contribute to the reassessment?” he asked. “And that’s the problem. The county is responsible.”

Municipalities and school districts, particularly school districts, benefit the most from reassessment, but the county has to foot the bill, Nothstein said.

He would like to see them contribute as well toward the cost of a countywide reassessment, he said.

The county could be expected to dole out $3.27 million for a reassessment, based on approximately 48,140 parcels in the county at $68 a parcel, Nothstein said. There is also disagreement on the numbers in each school district, he said.

Plus, the county needs to upgrade the current computer system as part of the process, which Nothstein anticipates being expensive but does not have firm numbers.

There is also the cost to transfer all the data into the new system, he said.

Schuylkill County is spending $6.6 million on its reassessment, which is currently underway, and Monroe County’s cost $6.4 million in 2016.

The reassessment process also takes about 30 months to complete, Nothstein said, and taxes can only increase by a certain percentage.

“So, it’s not going to change a whole lot right in the beginning,” he said.

Nothstein believes it will be older people who have value in their homes who will likely see their taxes go up through reassessment. Some, who overspent on their homes, may pay less, he said.

Commissioner Rocky Ahner didn’t think now was the time to start the reassessment process, when property values are high, he said.

He also thinks that older people who have lived in their homes for 50 years are hurt when their home value goes up and so do their taxes, he said.

“I really don’t think it’s a good time,” Ahner said. “It’s something that we ought to just let the dust settle a little bit and then try to approach this maybe two years from now.”

In Carbon County, the Lehighton Area School Board is leading the push for a countywide reassessment after putting its own post-sale assessment policy on the back burner. The board hopes other districts join with them.

There are 29 taxing authorities in Carbon County and they need a consensus moving forward, Commissioner Chris Lukasevich said, and they also need to share the burden associated with reassessment.

Lukasevich believes the Carbon County Council of Governments might want to bring the different entities together and hash out the issues, he said.

Together, they may be able to come up with proposals to address the concerns around reassessment and perception about spot assessments, he said.

Ahner said he’s not even sure spot assessing is the correct term for what is happening in the county.

Nothstein said the county does have a process for assessment appeals. Back in 2000 following the last reassessment, that board heard appeals both day and night for weeks, he said.

“That’s another unseen expense on top of the cost of doing the assessment,” Nothstein said.

While none of the county’s municipalities or school districts have approached the commissioners about a countywide reassessment, many people - mostly elderly - have reached out to them.

They are opposed, Nothstein said.

Lansford Borough Council also went on the record this week opposing reassessment. The burden placed on senior citizen homeowners was one of the reasons.

“There’s a lot involved in a reassessment,” Ahner said. “I think the elderly people, which are the majority of our population, are going to be hit.”