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Thursday, April 30, 2009

Councilman Seeks To Ease Property Tax Transition

Following the release of "actual value" property tax assessments from the Board of Revision of Taxes to City Council and the Mayor, Councilman Frank DiCicco today plans to introduce legislation that he says could ease the the impact of new tax bills on residents.

DiCicco said he wanted to "begin a discussion on addressing what we anticipate could be a significant increase."

There are two measures DiCicco wants the city to look at. One is taxing residents based on a five-year average of their tax bills, which would theoretically ease people into their new tax rates. The other would be to base property taxes on a "floating tax rate" -- meaning the city would determine how much revenue they need from property taxes and set rates accordingly.

Both measures may require state authorization.

Also, in property tax news, Controller Alan Butkovitz is calling on the BRT to publicly release the data they provided to elected officials yesterday.

 

 
Posted by Catherine Lucey @ 10:51 AM  Permalink | 9 comments
Comments   
  • 0 like this / 0 don't   •   Posted 10:58 AM, 04/30/2009
    It does no good to just release a list on paper of this data, the BRT or other city agency like the City Controller's office would have to to set up a searchable online database. This is easier than it sounds -- Ed Goppelt did this with Hallwatch. Hire him to do the work.
    — CleanupPhilly
  • 0 like this / 0 don't   •   Posted 11:02 AM, 04/30/2009
    Allowing people to pay a five year average of their bills sets a dangerous precedent of people expecting not to pay the annual property tax bill when it comes. May I suggest that the city create a climate of payment, where people understand that the property tax bill has to stay on the top of the pile of bills to be paid? This may include two bills a year, or it might include letting people choose to be billed four times a year. This is how other counties do it. We already have $522 million in overdue property taxes owed the city -- there is a huge climate of nonpayment, because people know the city is not collecting the money efficiently if at all at sheriff sale. Instead of DiCicco trying to figure out more ways to allow people to postpone payment, the whole Council needs to be figuring out ways to get caught up on the backlog of those who have not been paying for years.
    — CleanupPhilly
  • Comment removed.
  • 0 like this / 0 don't   •   Posted 11:51 AM, 04/30/2009
    They need to cut costs. all the taxes are too high. I think the five year average deserves some consideration though ut I hate the idea of a flaoting rate. "Oh, we need five hundred million this year, let it float higher again." bad, bad idea.
    — dreinterests
  • Comment removed.
  • 0 like this / 0 don't   •   Posted 12:50 PM, 04/30/2009
    @Dixon Floating rate is how it should be done. Floating rate is how they should have been doing it all along. Instead, City Council and previous mayor's have depended on the unelected BRT to raise assessments in order to raise revenue. With the floating rate idea, City Council and the mayor would have an idea of what the total value of all property in the city is at the beginning of the year, they would know how much revenue they need and they would set property tax rates accordingly. Sure, they might raise them every so often but they might actually lower them too (when other revenue sources do really well). One thing is for sure, we would have ELECTED officials to hold accountable if we're not happy with their decisions about the tax rates. Calling it a "floating rate" is just giving a misleading name to the way things are done EVERYWHERE else. The five-year rolling average is also a good idea. Well done, Dicicco!
    — Dixon
  • 0 like this / 0 don't   •   Posted 1:06 PM, 04/30/2009
    This looming storm will destroy all the successful, up and coming, gentrified/gentrifying neighborhoods. Grossly raising the taxes will force people out and severely devalue their homes. Who will buy a 300,000.00 home if their taxes are 12,000.00? Most people's enticement was the very low property taxes. This is not the suburbs where taxes pay for public education with top private school quality.
    — pagoda
  • 0 like this / 0 don't   •   Posted 3:35 PM, 04/30/2009
    @pagoda: Where did you come up with $12,000? A home with an assessed value of $300,000 would pay roughly 1 percent (but probably lower) so about $3,000 at most. Break that down per month and it's about $250 per month. Also factor in that you can deduct that from your federal tax bill and it probably works out to $2200 or so. I'm sorry, but that doesn't seem like a huge burden to pay for whatever is causing that neighborhood to be able to sustain $300,000 sale prices in the first place.
    — Dixon
  • Comment removed.


9 comments
About The Philly Clout Team
PhillyClout
Chris Brennan, a native Philadelphian and graduate of Temple University, joined the Daily News in 1999. He has written about SEPTA, the Philadelphia School District, the legalization of casino gambling, state government, the mayor, the governor, City Council and political campaigns.
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David Gambacorta spent a small eternity writing about cops, drug dealers and serial killers. Now he’s writing about power and politics ­– which sometimes reminds him of the old crime beat. He joined the Daily News in 2005. And yes, he knows you’re not quite sure how to pronounce his last name. E-mail tips to gambacd@phillynews.com
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Catherine Lucey joined the Daily News in 2002 and has written about murderous drug gangs, political protesters and Harry Potter. After covering the 2007 mayoral election, she moved over to the City Hall bureau where she has been reporting on the Nutter administration.
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Jan Ransom, a native New Yorker, joined the Daily News in 2010 after graduating from Howard University. She has since written about the difficulty of filing police complaints, tax deadbeats and life after violent home invasions. She joined the Daily News City Hall Bureau in 2011 and has plunged headfirst into reporting on administration budget battles and City Council shenanigans.
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