Dec 2, 2015 3 min read

WAYNESBURG – Central Greene School District has appealed a decision by the Greene County Board of Assessment Appeals to reduce the value of 4,704 acres of Pittsburgh seam coal in Washington Township by more than 95 percent.

The complaint, filed Friday with Greene County Court, seeks to overturn an appeals board decision issued in October lowering the value of the coal for 2016 from $6.86 million to $305,760. County property record cards refer to the coal as “Emerald Reserve.”

At the school district’s current tax rate of 26.1044 mills, school property taxes paid on the coal property would decrease from $179,040 to $7,982.

The owner of the coal, Eugene W. Scherich of Prosperity, had filed an appeal with the county assessment appeals board in August challenging the value for the 2016 tax year. According to his notice of appeal, Scherich claimed the value of the coal was changed Aug. 24, 2010, but he was neither consulted nor notified of the change. The original value was $305,760, he said.

Scherich also stated the assessment appeals board changed the value of the property based on coal depletion reports for 2011. He said he was neither provided the depletion reports nor notified depletion reports were under review by the board.

The law requires the property owner be notified of any assessment change, Scherich said.

“This coal has not and will not be mined, and accordingly the evaluation should not have been changed,” he wrote in his complaint.

Depletion reports are normally filed each year and indicate a change in the value of a coal property, resulting from coal being mined from the property that will be removed from the tax rolls. Or, there could be a change in the coal value based on whether it is classified as active coal, which is expected to be mined soon, or reserve coal, which is not expected to be mined and is assessed at a lower value.

The current property record card for the coal, filed in the county assessment office, indicates Scherich as the owner of the coal and lists his Prosperity address. Prior to the his appeal before the assessment appeals board, however, the record card listed Scherich as the owner, but his address in care of Pennsylvania Land Holdings, 158 Portal Road, Waynesburg.

Pennsylvania Land Holdings is an affiliate of Alpha Natural Resources, which operated the now closed Emerald Mine.

Either Alpha or Pennsylvania Coal Holdings has paid county property taxes on the coal for the last few years, according to county tax records. Taxes have not been paid for 2015.

Neither Scherich nor his attorney could be reached for comment.

The school district, in its appeal, claims the assessment appeals board decision is improper, artificial and arbitrary.

“The assessment is based on a valuation not determined by relevant facts or factors, but based upon arbitrary and unrealistic methods and considerations,” the complaint said.

The assessed mineral value is well below the actual market value as well as the market value of “similarly situated” assessed minerals or coal, the complaint said.

Neither a spokesman for the district not its solicitor could be reached for comment Wednesday.