Jack Cambest said he hasn't heard anything more about his future as solicitor in West Mifflin Area School District, but he's keeping busy as Allegheny County Council's solicitor.

Less than 48 hours after he was retained in that position, Cambest planned to go to Common Pleas Court to file a formal intervention in the county's property reassessment dispute.

"We're getting to the point of time where the certification numbers are supposed to be going out," Cambest said. "(That) may or may not have an effect on the county budget."

Council's filing with Senior Judge R. Stanton Wettick Jr. would be a step up from the role it expressed two years ago as an interested party in the dispute.

"We're basically saying that the process that Judge Wettick has attempted to implement here with the city of Pittsburgh first, with Mt. Oliver and the Pittsburgh school district, lacks uniformity that the (state) Supreme Court said reassessment in Allegheny County should have," Cambest said.

Wettick stepped up pressure to complete property reassessments in Pittsburgh and Mt. Oliver, scheduling five status conferences between Friday and Jan. 5.

That's two days before former council president Rich Fitzgerald takes office as county executive and six days before a Jan. 11 deadline the judge gave the Pittsburgh-Mt. Oliver district to set its 2012 property tax.

Unlike mid-year budget deadlines of suburban school districts, Pittsburgh's public schools utilize a calendar year budget plan, as do municipalities.

Among the legal questions on the county level is how reassessment would affect the 1-mill, or 21-percent, real estate tax increase approved by council and allowed to become law without the signature of outgoing Executive Dan Onorato.

Under the state's anti-windfall rule, tax increases must be limited to 5 percent in the year when a reassessment occurs.

"It obviously could come into play," Cambest said.

Another matter that may affect the county budget is the schedule for getting reassessment notices out for the suburbs. That could force municipalities and school districts to send two bills out to homeowners, and raised the question of whether the county should pay for the double billing.

Cambest said getting out all of the reassessment notices might not happen until mid-year, but Wettick is reviewing a schedule that would have all notices mailed out countywide by Feb. 24. That could prevent a double-billing.

Cambest has full support from council, which voted Monday, 14-0, to retain him for a ninth year. Councilman Matt Drozd, R-Ross Township, abstained.

In West Mifflin, the question of a new solicitor could come up again at a special school board meeting Thursday at 7 p.m. The meeting is scheduled to deal with the annual audit, a preliminary 2012-13 budget and other matters.

Cambest said he heard nothing about any consensus among board members, who had several alternatives offered to Cambest's law firm at the board reorganization earlier this month.

Meanwhile, Fitzgerald launched his transition website www.richfitzgerald.com, and announced two senior staff appointments. They are council budget director Jennifer Liptak as his chief of staff and former council staffer Amie Downs as his communications director.

Fitzgerald will be sworn in Jan. 3 at 1 p.m. at Soldiers & Sailors Memorial Hall, then celebrate that night from 7-11 in Duquesne at the Greater Pittsburgh Community Food Bank.

Attendees will be asked to bring a non-perishable food item as their admission to the event. More details are at the transition website.

Tribune-Review News Service contributed to this story.

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