Tuesday, June 18, 2013

Subscriber Services |

Tuesday, June 18, 2013

Heard in the Hall

Aggrieved BRT considers ceding some powers to Nutter

The six members of the beleaguered Board of Revision of Taxes defended their management of the agency, the role of patronage in its operations and the performance of their employees at a public hearing this morning, where they faulted City Council and the Nutter administration for Philadelphia's inequitable and inaccurate property tax assessment system.

29 comments

Aggrieved BRT considers ceding some powers to Nutter

POSTED: Monday, November 30, 2009, 12:39 PM

Patrick Kerkstra

No vote was taken at the hearing, which was called for the board to consider adoption of a memorandum of understanding that would temporarily cede BRT control of property assessments to the Nutter administration. A final vote has not been scheduled, though board member Robert Nix said it could come within a week.

Instead, the morning hearing was dominated by impassioned remarks from BRT members and employees, who likened recent criticism of the agency to a "mob scene." Board members saved their harshest remarks for the Committee of 70, which has called for BRT reforms, and for the Inquirer, which has for over a year documented the agency's missteps.

"I want you to know that I take umbrage and offense," said BRT Chair Charlesretta Meade, addressing Ellen Kaplan, Vice President and Policy Director of the Committee of 70, who had come to urge the agency to do what it can to repair its damaged image.

Board member James Thomas Dintino was just as offended by Kaplan's remarks.

"It is my honor that is at stake here. I will not let it be tarnished," Dintino said.

The board members said they had tried for years to adopt a more equitable tax assessing system, dubbed the Actual Value Initiative, but had been thwarted by political interference from Council and by reduced funding from the Nutter administration.

The Inquirer has found serious and systemic errors in early releases of Actual Value assessments, and the Nutter administration has predicted it could take up to two years to iron out the flaws.

In his remarks, board member Alan K. Silberstein defended the role of the agency's 80 patronage workers, who are funded by the School District of Philadelphia and thus exempt from city civil service regulations, which include a ban on political activity.

As in the private sector, patronage workers get their jobs by dint of their relationships and connections, Silberstein said.

"That's the way things work. It doesn't make it wrong," Silberstein said.

If the board does vote to adopt the memorandum of understanding, the BRT would continue to hear appeals from property owners who disagree with their assessments. But it would the Nutter administration, through Finance Director Rob Dubow, who oversees the property evaluators who determine what real estate is worth in the city.

The arrangement is intended to be temporary. City Council is considering legislation that would, following approval from the voters in May, disband or restructure the BRT for good.

Click here for Philly.com's politics page.

29 comments

Previous Story: Mayor Nutter's statement on his father's passing

Comments (29)

0 like this / 0 don't • Posted 4:13 PM, 11/30/2009

j mac has made no observations of the so-called "patronage mill." Philly_guy sounds like a Council aide(?). AJ Boots never knew that the Inky series is mostly not on empirics. Newbolder: converting school employees to City employees could cost $4m extra -as they only get $25k a year, and due to better City benefits.. Jacobs has a conviction in absentia(?), but the guts to use his name. IcanTakeit never questioned the Inky visual inspection of the BRT - or their real estate expertise?? Hey Cleanup - does the state run PPA? Does Clean -up like the PPA?

— joseph shay stivala

0 like this / 0 don't • Posted 4:23 PM, 11/30/2009

These guys are making a great case for disbanding the BRT. To say that there is nothing wrong with these patronage jobs just shows how completely removed from reality these people are. People in the private sector get jobs because of relationships and connections? Not really. And they don't keep their jobs despite poor performance like these people. And they certainly shouldn't be able to perticipate in political activities. Unbelievable!!! "Things have always been corrupt. That's the way things work. That doesn't make it wrong."

— MikeP

0 like this / 0 don't • Posted 4:24 PM, 11/30/2009

Take this scum out back and shoot them. You people that live in Philly really need to vote out some of these entrenched thieves.

— politicalcorrectnessmyace

0 like this / 0 don't • Posted 4:27 PM, 11/30/2009

"It is my honor that is at stake here." No sir, it is the entire real estate tax structure of this city and the taxpayers' money. I really don't give a you-know-what about your honor. Maybe you should have thought about that before taking a do-nothing patronage job you weren't qualified for.

— phillyskyline

Comment removed.

0 like this / 0 don't • Posted 4:31 PM, 11/30/2009

I used to think CLEANUP worked for the Inky, as he/she was allowed to hog so much space - as to put other writers on page two. But he let slip a few words that showed real estate knowledge. She/he is a per- son with goals and objectives. In the balderdash above she/he writes of law violations, but gives no specifics. Then Cleanup attacks the BRT qualifications without evidence. Anyone, not born yesterday knows that the BRT has a swipe card system so that the workers cannot lose one minute under eight hours. Why go to Ireland to kiss the Blarney Stone - when I can study it's blogs.

— joseph shay stivala

Comment removed.

0 like this / 0 don't • Posted 6:13 PM, 11/30/2009

AVI? You mean taxing property values based on 2006-07 speculative high water mark/highest values that have nothing to do with the real values now in a recession and job losses? My taxes should not go up 90%, they should only go up 65-70% and that would be fair in real value. And riddle me this, how can you AVI a house without inspecting the inside? That is part of the driving force of real values. In essence they take the highest sale value of a property in the neighborhood (some gleaming, freshly done over in best economy year) and rubber stamp the houses with minor variations. Thats a crime in itself.

— Steelmanpa

0 like this / 0 don't • Posted 7:30 PM, 11/30/2009

Where are the taxpayers demanding the BRT cede its authority to the Mayor? Where are the pickets? Suburbanites on the Committee of 70 should have no say. If the public is not demanding it, the BRT should not adopt the memorandum of understanding.

— anti-tax

0 like this / 0 don't • Posted 2:57 AM, 12/01/2009

ANTI-TAX IS CORRECT. The truth came out at the BRT hearing on the Memo of Understanding. After the Inky BRT series and demanded Sunshine public hearing, only ONE citizen spoke. One out of a City of almost two million!

— joseph shay stivala

0 like this / 0 don't • Posted 7:16 AM, 12/01/2009

CleanupPhilly, as usual, you don't have a clue. You're brainwashed just like the rest of the pinheads.

— tellsitlikeitis

0 like this / 0 don't • Posted 7:29 AM, 12/01/2009

All you meatheads out there that are condeming the entire brt will get what you deserve. When the city takes over the brt, watch how high your real estate taxes rise. The brt kept your taxes lower than any other surrounding area. But because of all your narrow minds, and the lies the bankrupt inquirer led you meatheads to believe, you convicted an entire department because of two people. Change is coming. Wait till you get your tax bill in 2011. You think the main line taxes are high. You won't be far behind. By the way, the definition of a meathead is someone that is dead from the neck up. Sounds like you CleanupPhilly.

— tellsitlikeitis

0 like this / 0 don't • Posted 11:59 AM, 12/02/2009

Philly students are always being cheated. those 80 salaries could be out to good use elsewhere

— jayman

0 like this / 0 don't • Posted 11:14 AM, 12/04/2009

tellsitlikeitis: Attacking the opinions of others is one thing, but attacking the person making the opinion, in the real world, does nothing to advance your argument. There is a documented history of malfeasance at the BRT. These documents speak for themselves and are available for your review per the freedom of information act. As a tax payer and home owner, I have reviewed them. Your assertions are factually unsupported. However, the assertions against BRT regarding partronage, negligence and waste are facts. The eventual raise in property taxes do not support your contention. The BRT should be terminated. However, the Mayor, his Inspector General, his Solicitor and the Controller have continued to add to the negligence by their collective non-action. Each of these people have the duty to shut down the BRT or completely revamp it. Just read the records.

— philly68