Judge R. Stanton Wettick Strikes County Homeowners Again

No one that has followed the latest costly property reassessment debacle in Allegheny County should be surprised that notorious imperial Common Pleas Court Judge R. Stanton Wettick has ruled against us pitiable homeowners again, decreeing that the county is not obligated to accept a certified appraisal as evidence of accurate valuation.   
As someone that has been through the process this time around, including first and second level appeals, I react with incredulity to Wettick’s statement which accompanied his ruling, “The property owner looks to the hearing officer, a person with residential valuation expertise, for an unbiased evaluation of the homeowner’s testimony and submissions…”  Yes we do, Judge, but as has been demonstrated, there are hearing officers that have elected not to do their jobs, who have disregarded evidence such as certified appraisals, while providing no explanation for their actions.  The homeowner then must endure further inconvenience AND expense, a non-refundable $106 filing fee, to take the case before the Board of Viewers for relief.  To what extent is it fair to saddle the homeowner with the need to expend even more effort, time, and money to fix the error that was inflicted when drive-by “assessors” pulled figures out of the air and failed enter our homes before assigning values to our properties? 
 
Why must owning a home in Allegheny County be made far more miserable, Judge Wettick?  Finally, are you working on imposing another expensive, inequitable, and calamitous reassessment on us before you retire?