Monroeville officials will file an appeal after Allegheny County denied their application to exempt the Monroeville Convention Center from property taxation.
“The original convention center was a profit-making enterprise, and so it paid property taxes,” said Monroeville solicitor Robert Wratcher. “The municipality, which owns it now, doesn’t pay property taxes, so we asked the county for an exemption, and found out recently they’d denied that request.”
Wratcher said county officials’ denial reasoned that the convention center was not considered a “public use.”
“That seems to be contradicted by most Pennsylvania law,” Wratcher said. “There’s only one other convention center in Allegheny County, the David L. Lawrence Convention Center, and it was deemed to be public use — ours operates in exactly the same way.”
The municipality purchased the convention center for just over $5 million in 2024 to prevent it from being sold to craft store chain Hobby Lobby. Since then, officials have used a combination of local funding and state grant money to install new rooftop air conditioning units, refurbish the concrete flooring and install new carpet in its South Hall.
This year, plans include updating indoor video boards, replacing the North Hall’s roof, updating interior and exterior paint and redoing the parking lot.
Wratcher said the municipality will appeal the county’s tax-exemption denial.
“I think during that process, they’re going to find out that we are in fact using it for a public use, and that it’s entitled to the exemption,” he said.
That process could take between four and six months, according to Wratcher.
“In the interim, we’re obligated to pay those taxes, but if it’s found to be exempt, we’d receive a refund,” he said.