With AVI assessments in the mail, Nutter says it's a 'historic day'
The Actual Value Initiative, or AVI, seeks to fix the city's highly inaccurate tax rolls, which for years have been the scorn of Philadelphians who received unpredictable and often unfair tax bills because of outdated assessments.
With AVI assessments in the mail, Nutter says it's a 'historic day'
Sean Collins Walsh
As the city began mailing out its assessments of every plot of taxable land in the city on Friday - a major step in executing the new property-tax system slated for next year - Mayor Nutter said it was a “historic day” for Philadelphia.
“The broken system that unfairly undervalued or over-assessed residential, commercial and industrial properties in Philadelphia for decades will now be a thing of the past,” he said. “The old system is dead,” he said at a press conference. “For the first time, our property-tax system will be an accurate reflection of the real value of our properties.”
The Actual Value Initiative, or AVI, seeks to fix the city’s highly inaccurate tax rolls, which for years have been the scorn of Philadelphians who received unpredictable and often unfair tax bills because of outdated assessments.
For two years, city workers have canvassed Philly and reevaluated every plot of land. They determined that the city’s roughly 590,000 taxable properties are worth close to $100 billion in total.
On Friday, the result of their work will start making its way to taxpayers, most of whom should soon receive a notice indicating what the city thinks their land is worth. Residents can appeal the new valuations if they feel the city overshot by filing a complaint with the Office of Property Assessment. Instructions should be included in the mailings.
About 60 percent of residential property owners could be seeing a tax increase under the new system, although most increases will be small. Many commercial property owners, however, could see a decrease because there was less inaccuracy in recent assessments for those plots.
Nutter cautioned residents not to confuse the assessments with their tax bills. City Council must set a tax rate and consider exemptions - including ones to provide relief for homeowners - before actual bills based on the new system can be determined.
The mayor also said that the tax bill for his house, a two-and-a-half story home in Wynnefield, will actually go down, possibly by $460 to $588 depending on what Council decides.
Nutter said he and his wife will donate to the School District's accelerated programs in the amount of the difference in their tax bill.
Does this mean we're done with "temporary" propery tax hikes whenever the city needs more money?— LouDiamondPhillipsheadScrewdriver- yes, the total amount of revenue is supposed to be same as what they get right now— Yakov
how is another property tax hike "historic" in this cesspool of a city? tax hikes are de rigeur under numb nut. what would be "historic" would be spending cuts and workforce layoffs
but keep voting democrat, you humps, and keep paying the higher taxes for which you voted!— hannibal barca- "The mayor also said that the tax bill for his house, a two-and-a-half story home in Wynnefield, will actually go down, possibly by $460 to $588 depending on what Council decides."
and the mayor receives a tax cut. this would be funny if the joke wasn't on honest, working taxpayers in roxborough, east falls and the northeast— hannibal barca - It's nauseating reading all the Nutter administration people slapping each other's backs on twitter for finally finishing something a year behind schedule, and oh by the way the web site is crashing.— bullrun
- The assessments go up in the neighborhoods where the people are resposible and actually pay and down in the areas where they don't. How many hundreds of millions in uncollected RE taxes are on the books? If half was collected, everyone would be receiving a tax CUT!— Wilhelm Von Humboldt
- "For two years, city workers have canvassed Philly and reevaluated every plot of land." --- Interesting. Not once did they contact me or any of my neighbors. When did they show up, when everyone was working?— psyrus
- That's the question I keep asking in these forums. Where are the assessors? Who were they and why didn't anybody I know or talk too ever see one. I did not see any TV or other media coverage either...Hmmm. Makes me suspect someone is giving me a pile of BS. They supposedly left "door hangs" asked questions (of who?) and I guess, "stealthily" made their way (what--in the dark?) to evaluate 579,000 properties. Who are they kidding? I've repeatedly asked anyone who writes here to say if they ran into one of these "aliens". Nothing yet. Tells me a lot. — oblekr
- It will be a "historic day" in Philly when the idiot Demo's are finally ousted from their control of the city. Nothing but trough feeders and self-serving ego's. Idiots have run the city for too long.— dogman5
- They will never be ousted. The city favors the welfare state and they will always vote for the liberals. Finally the city will be all section 8 renters and with them in place the property values will go way down! — patty b
- Get rid of the slimy politicians. Start with the City Councilwoman that admits breaking laws. Boot Blondell Reynold Brown NOW.
WWWRECALLBLONDELLREYNOLDSBROWN.ORG
— SPENDSPEND - Get rid of the slimy politicians. Start cleanup with the City Councilwoman that admits breaking laws. Boot Blondell Reynold Brown NOW.
WWW.RECALLBLONDELLREYNOLDSBROWN.ORG— SPENDSPEND - I wonder how many employees I will have to layoff.— UncleStosh
- I smell BS. If you really had a business, a tax increase like this shouldn't cause any layoffs.
Name your business and prove us wrong - I;ve had two 15% tax hikes (temporary?) on consecutive years. Add a third this year and you get 45%. I'm beginning to think this city will be populated 100% by Title8 renters pretty soon. This is with the exception of the million$ "tax exempt" luxury properties, of course!— DonQ
Follow Chris on Twitter
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
Follow Dave on Twitter.
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
Follow Jan on Twitter
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
Follow Sean on Twitter
