Ad Valorem Tax
Property tax is an ad valorem tax, exclusive of exemptions, use-value assessment provisions, and the like.

Appeal
A process in which a property owner contests an assessment either informally or formally.

Appraisal
The act of estimating the monetary value of property.  (2) The monetary value of property as estimated by an appraiser.

Assessed Value
The assessment placed on real property by a county assessment office upon which all real estate taxes shall be calculated.

Assessment Base
The total assessed value of all property within a designated area; the property tax base.

Assessment Level
The common or overall ratio of assessed values to market values.

Assessment Ratio
The fractional relationship an assessed value bears to the market value of the property in question.

Base Year
The year upon which real property market values are based for the most recent countywide revision of assessment of real property or other prior year upon which the market value of all real property of the county is based for assessment purposes.  Real property market values shall be equalized within the county and any changes by the board shall be expressed in terms of base-year values.

Certification Date
The statutory date by which formal real property valuations [post informal reviews, if applicable] are certified by the county assessment office.  [In counties of the second class A through eighth class, this date is November 15.  See 53 Pa.C.S. §8844(f).]

Certified Pennsylvania Evaluator (CPE)
A person responsible for the valuation of real property for ad valorem taxation purposes who has satisfied the qualifications for certification as a Certified Pennsylvania Evaluator pursuant to the Assessor's Certification Act and the Professional and Vocational Standards under Title 49 of the Pennsylvania Code, Chapter 36, Subchapter C (Certified Pennsylvania Evaluators).

Common Level Ratio (CLR)
The ratio of assessed value to current market value used generally in the county and published by State Tax Equalization Board on or before July 1 of the year prior to the tax year on appeal before the board under the State Tax Equalization Board Law.

Cost Approach to Value
One of the three approaches to value, the cost approach is based on the principal of substitution - that a rational, informed purchaser will pay no more for a property than the cost of building an acceptable substitute with like utility.  The cost approach seeks to determine the replacement cost new of an improvement less depreciation plus land value; it is the method of estimating the value of property by: (a) estimating the cost of construction based on replacement or reproduction cost new or trended historic cost (often adjusted by a local multiplier), (b) subtracting depreciation, and (c) adding the estimated site value.

Countywide Revision of Assessment
A change in the established predetermined ratio or revaluation of all real property within a county.

Depreciation
Loss in value of an object, relative to its replacement cost new, reproduction cost new, or original cost, whatever the cause of the loss in value, relevant to the cost approach.

Depreciation, Accrued
The amount of depreciation, from any and all sources, that affects the value of the property in question on the effective date of the appraisal, relevant to the cost approach.

Established Predetermined Ratio (EPR)
The ratio of assessed value to market value established by the board of county commissioners or comparable governing body in a home rule county and uniformly applied in determining assessed value in any year.

Field Review
A CPE with experience and knowledge of valuation techniques employed on a project for the property categories for which the CPE will be responsible. A field reviewer will review accuracy of data collected for property in a previously identified neighborhood and preliminary and/or final values.

Final Assessment Roll
A document containing property owner(s) name, mailing address, property location and uniform parcel identifier; or reference to the tax map, and taxable status, and real property assessment of all parcels in a County.

Highest and Best Use
A principle of appraisal and assessment requiring that each property be appraised as though it were being put to its most profitable use (highest possible present net worth), given probable legal, physical, and financial constraints.

Income Approach to Value
One of the three approaches to value, based on the concept that current value is the present worth of future benefits to be derived through income production by an asset over the remainder of its economic life.  The income approach uses capitalization to convert the anticipated benefits of the ownership of property into an estimate of present value.

Market Value
The price in a competitive market a purchaser, willing but not obligated to buy, would pay an owner, willing but not obligated to sell, taking into consideration all the legal uses to which the property can be adapted and might be reasonably applied. (See Buhl Found. v. Board of Prop. Assessment, 180 A.2d 900 (Pa. 1962).)

Preferential Assessments
The total use value of land qualifying for assessment under the Pennsylvania Farmland and Forest Land Assessment Act of 1974 (commonly referred to as the Clean and Green Act, Act 319).

Reassessment
The revaluation of all real property within a county.  Also called revaluation or reappraisal.

Sales Comparison Approach to Value
One of the three approaches to value, the sales comparison approach estimates a property's value (or some other characteristic, such as its depreciation) by reference to comparable sales.  Also known as the Comparable Sales Approach or Market Approach.

Taxable Value
The value of a property applied to millage rates to be taxed.

Uniform Standards of Professional Appraisal Practice (USPAP)
The purpose of USPAP is to promote and maintain a high level of public trust in appraisal practice by establishing requirements for appraisers.  It is essential that appraisers develop and communicate their analysis, opinions and conclusions to intended users of their services in a manner that is meaningful and not misleading.  The Appraisal Standards Board (ASB) promulgates USPAP for both appraisers and users of appraisal services.  The ASB is a board established by The Appraisal Foundation, authorized by Congress as the source of appraisal standards and appraiser qualifications.

Valuation
Developing and reviewing a new determination of market value for each parcel, based on current data for the County's identified base year of valuation by the appropriate use of one or more of the accepted three approaches to value (cost, market and income).