'Trending' used to calculate new Allegheny County property values

The Post-Gazette reports:

Several Allegheny County Council members last night seemed baffled as county officials tried to explain the methods used for creating the latest batch of 2006 assessment numbers.

During a two-hour committee meeting, officials in county Chief Executive Dan Onorato's administration repeatedly responded to questions about their assessment methods with general descriptions, saying that the specific procedure for developing the new numbers, which would result in a 5.8 percent average increase for 500,000 residential properties, is too complex to demonstrate.

"It's not a magic formula. There are multiple formulas," county Manager Jim Flynn said. "There's no easy answer."

More confusion means higher taxes .