Where are the AVI numbers?
There's still no word on what the city's new property-tax system will mean for different areas of the city.
Where are the AVI numbers?
A week ago, City Finance Director Rob Dubow said that the administration had all but completed its citywide review of properties for the Actual Value Initiative and that district Council members would receive neighborhood breakdowns of those numbers by the end of January.
Well, it's Feb. 1, and there's still no word on what the city's new property-tax system will mean for different areas of the city.
"It's frustrating. We were told we were going to have this in September, then we were told that that wasn't going to happen until Christmas, and now it's a month after that," Councilman Brian O'Neill said on Thursday. "We're just left to sit and wonder like everyone else."
So what's taking so long?
On Monday, Mayor Nutter said he's already seen a "very preliminary update, kind of a top-level overview." While he couldn't remember specific neighborhoods that would be affected more or less than others, he did say he doesn't think there's going to be much reason for concern.
"I don't necessarilly know that there are any big surprises and in some instances a bunch of folks are going to be actually pleasently surprised," he said. "I would characterize what I've seen as nowhere near as bad as folks may have been anticipating."
Dubow said the city will start mailing the new assessments to residents starting Feb. 15. It's unclear whether Council members will receive data on their districts ahead of time, as the administration had previously promised.
The Mayor's Office did not immediately return a request for comment Friday.
- You got it. Every dollar they steal in additional taxes goes towards Arlene ackermann's million dollar buyout
— hannibal barca 
cry you low information philly voters.serves you right— seanmike- First off, I am all for AVI. Just by looking at the assessed values on the OPA website makes me sick. It is the fair thing to do, but this Administration is screwing it up just like everything else that came across their office.
You have to believe that the new AVI assessments are not being released to City Council because they are still tweaking properties. City Council will get them when all homeowners receive their new values. Don't be surprised that you can not reach your Council representative in the days following the mailing of the AVI.
Did the City assessors consider the current market in which home sales are still down while foreclosures are still happening? Also, how in the high heavens can AVI be revenue neutral? I find that comment insulting my intelligence. You are basically telling the citizens that all the properties, I do not know the exact number, will cancel each other out? HAHAHA. Only a little under three years left with this numb-nut and tghe end of his political career.— unclecokes - Exactly right that AVI cannot be revenue neutral. Hell, they've spent millions already implementing it with a fleet of desk jockeys at who knows what cost, or for how long. My guess, forever as the real estate valuation department becomes yet another patronage agency.
— The Monk - I've complained for the last couple of years that Dubow, Nutter and his cast of buffoons keep thinking and saying home prices in Philadelphia have gone up since 2004. Hello stupid?? It's the opposite of the Case-Shiller index for the 30 or so major metro areas showing prices still down from the infamous bubble burst. So? How do we get accurate figures if the assessors--did anyopne ever see one?--were so diligently calculating our home values. What can they base it on? We're barely nudging the postive side of pre bubbleprices (and I think that's BS too). You've called it the way I've seen it too--along with many other folks. They are lying, pure and simple. — oblekr
- The correct rate of tax is zero. There is nothing the city provides that an entrepreneur can't provide better.— hodg99
- Bottom line: AVI will end up increasing the rate to about 1.25 which is 25% above the national average. It will end up costing me personally about $950 per year, and will drive down the value of my home by about $20,000 as it drives UP the sunk cost per year to buy my home. Thank you Michael Nutter! May I have another...So far, under Nutter, my house has already fallen in value by $20,000 so this just accelerates that erosion just as I near retirement. Meanwhile, Comcast, Liberty Place, and over 55 communities are getting tax abated - paying NOTHING! And AVI fixes this how???— The Monk
- There should be a moratorium on AVI unless and until Butkovitz collects at least half of the $500 Million owed to Our Faire Countrie Towne by slumlords, and deadbeats. The other half should have liens on them already and the City salvages what it can when the owner dies. That requires an HONEST sheriff which has proven difficult for thirty years now. Butkovitz criticizes Nutter and AVI but he has not done his job either.— The Monk
- I'm so happy I don't live in Philly...that city is a mess— Doho2008
- The 1st thing we have to do is look at the AVI assignments for the "elite" folks in Philadelphia. You know, the Mayor,Council,the dozens of managing directors, McDaniel,Dubow and a host of other drones and patronage leeches who populate "Nutter's Kingdom". Make sure that they are stuck with the same rates they'll impose on homeowners. Nutter says folks will be "pleasantly surprised", eh? More lies and distortions. How he doesn't bust out laughing at the public when he babbles on like this shows how callously he views the citizens of the City. You notice that the SDP/SRC and the Mayor are making no effort to pursue the $500 million is property tax arrears...Nutter will simply take the new, bigger surplus and give it to the schools to flush down the toilet. Worse, yet, we're getting ready to give him millions more to divert to his private "Hires" (like McDaniel) and the other Executive Order 6 figure drones he's piled on to the payroll. Betcha they don't live in the City...— oblekr
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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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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. E-mail tips to ransomj@phillynews.com
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Sean Collins Walsh is from Bucks County and went to Northwestern University. He joined the Daily News copy desk in 2012 and now covers the Nutter administration. Before that, he interned at papers including The New York Times, The Dallas Morning News and The Seattle Times. E-mail tips to walshSE@phillynews.com
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