March 12, 2025 -- Lackawanna County, through contractor Tyler Technologies Appraisal Services, has completed its tentative valuations of all county residential properties for the first time since 1968, and will mail the new valuations to property owners beginning Friday.

Patrick Tobin, director of the county Assessment Office, said about 50,000 new valuations will be mailed Friday, and that roughly 50,000 valuations will be mailed Friday, March 21.

Reassessment of commercial properties is not yet complete.

Tobin emphasized that the new valuations are not tax bills, and that they will not be used by the county, municipal governments and school districts to set tax rates until 2026. The tentative valuations, he said, have no bearing on the 2025 property tax bills that property owners have received, or will receive, from Lackawanna County and their local governments and school districts.

Also, Tobin noted, the new tentative valuations are not adjustments of existing valuations, but entirely new valuations based on current conditions. The objective, he said, is to make each valuation, for the purpose of taxation, consistent with each property’s actual market value. Doing so, he said, will establish fair distribution of the local tax burden based on actual market property values.

The tentative valuation notice that the county will send to property owners includes instructions for property owners who choose to appeal. That will begin with an informal process whereby property owners may call or appear in person to meet with assessors, who will explain how they arrived at the new valuation. Property owners who still disagree then may file a formal appeal.

Anticipating a large number of formal appeals, the county will establish auxiliary appeals boards, in addition to its existing permanent appeals board, to hear cases.

Tobin said the county will establish four auxiliary appeals boards of three members each. The boards will hear appeals five days a week beginning Aug. 1, and will continue to do so through Oct. 31. Final valuations must be established by Nov. 15, so that the county, local governments and school districts may use them in formulating their 2026 budgets.

Auxiliary board members will be paid $24,000 each. Interested prospective board members who have Certified Pennsylvania Evaluator status automatically are eligible. Other applicants must take a six-hour online training course.

Applicants should include their qualifications and apply to:

Lackawanna County Assessor’s Office
Lackawanna County Government Center
123 Wyoming Ave., 2nd floor
Scranton, PA 18503

Telephone: 570-963-6728
Email: assessor@lackawannacounty.org

An application form for boards and authorities is available here, and also on the county website, lackawannacounty.org, and on the Human Resources page under the Government tab.