Furious Nutter seeks to slash BRT pay, power
Philadelphia City Hall and political coverage from the Philadelphia Inquirer City Hall bureau.
Furious Nutter seeks to slash BRT pay, power
Patrick Kerkstra
Calling the appointed leaders of the Board of Revision of Taxes a “rogue board,” Mayor Nutter said today he and City Council would immediately attempt to slash their salaries and seize control of their budgeting authority.
“The BRT board appears to be out of control. President Obama had to deal with pirates, and we have to deal with the BRT,” Nutter said.
The mayor’s remarkable comments come a day after the BRT broke off a joint-management agreement that gave Nutter’s staff day-to-day control over the deeply troubled property assessment agency.
Under the agreement – which had an initial term of just six months – the board’s role was relegated to hearing appeals of property assessments, a job for which the seven members receive $70,000 a year for part-time work.
The agreement also gave the Nutter administration day-to-day operating authority over the agency. The administration’s goal was to begin correcting a property valuation system that under the BRT’s leadership had become one of the most inaccurate and unfair in the nation.
By not renewing the agreement, the BRT put itself back in charge.
“Their behavior is bizarre, it is irresponsible, it is irrational and it undermines our reform efforts. It is increasingly clear that the BRT board is becoming a rogue board, operating outside of any commonly held interest of inspiring public confidence,” Nutter said.
In an attempt to pressure the board into renewing the agreement (called a memorandum of understanding), Nutter will ask City Council on Thursday to slash the board’s $70,000 salaries to $18,000, which appears to be the minimum allowed by state law.
Nutter said he was also considering other steps, which he declined to identify, designed to either pressure the board into renewing the memorandum of understanding or to further minimize the board’s role in managing property assessments in Philadelphia.
All these maneuvers are only tangentially related to the May 18 primary election, where Philadelphia voters are scheduled to settle the fate of the BRT once and for all. A question appearing on that ballot would abolish the agency, and replace it with two new entities.
Last month, the BRT board filed a lawsuit in the state Supreme Court geared at thwarting that election. The suit claims that the city has no legal authority to completely abolish the agency, arguing that state law gives the city’s judges sole power to decide who hears property assessment appeals.
Although Nutter considers the matters of the lawsuit and the memorandum of understanding to be unrelated, it is clear that BRT board members felt that formally renewing their agreement with the administration would harm their case in court.
“The fact that they are just being intransigent as part of some litigation strategy means that we have to rethink our strategy,” said Councilman Bill Green, who sponsored the legislation that put the May BRT question on the ballot. “So I’d be delighted to assist the mayor in reminding them that it is City Council and the mayor that make the rules, and the BRT that follows them.”
No BRT members returned calls from the Inquirer yesterday, and board chair Charlesretta Meade replied only with an opaque single sentence e-mail stating that the board had taken “no action” on the memorandum of understanding.
By virtue of taking no action, the agreement expired.
Mayoral fury and name-calling accomplishes nothing. Lowering the salary of the BRT Board, and even the two members not in the suit is not even-handed. With litigation in progress, could attempted punitive action be seen as outside the scope of a defense and even protract the suit??— joseph shay stivala- I do not believe that members of City Council encouraged the BRT Board actions. Except for two councilpersons, their BRT support has been nil. Fumo did'nt go to jail for simplistic reasons suggested either. It is blarney to say BRT computer skills are lacking when computer equipment is needed.— joseph shay stivala
- Rather interesting that only one BRT board member resigned, namely Jimmy Ditino. Not sure why he would not want to continue getting his $70,000 yearly salary. Not like Him! Is he under investigation?— tombstone713
- Rather interesting that only one BRT board member resigned, namely Jimmy Ditino. Not sure why he would not want to continue getting his $70,000 yearly salary. Not like Him! Is he under investigation?— tombstone713
- So the BRT filed a lawsuit in the state Supreme Court. Who is paying for their lawyers?— Futurama
- Homebuyer.com or Zillow.com. Tax assessment problem fixed for pretty cheap. I'm sure these companies would license their software to the city without soaking us with the expense of all those BRT patronage jobs. Sure, we'd have to tweak the software, but the basic architecture already exist so there is no development cost needed. It just takes political cajones to do something like this.— The Monk of Magdalena
- BRT reform is how many years old now? Believe reform when you see it.— litarider
- Huzzas and kudos for our Mayor. I say leave the pay at $18,000 forever. I'll take that for a part time gig. I'd love it. Post the jobs on the city site and you'll get serious, honest citizens who want to do a good job for the people.— The Monk of Magdalena
- Cleanup ... ditto. 'Nuff said.— citylumberjack
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Get real. Nutter will raise the assesments so taxes will rise to cover his hole. The he will favor his cronies like the carpetbaggers like Camille Managing Director and others to be name in future. Nutter show hate and not judgement with this lash and bash...no wonder he never succeeds, he is NUTTERIAN THAT IS TAKING US FOR RIDE DOWN A SLIPERY SLOPE.- Comment removed.
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- To Cleanup Philly--you obviously know a lot about this issue, and many others going on in the City. My question for you: are you an elected official or are you planning to run for office? Seems you might have an interest there.— ShaJones
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- Nutter is a good mayor. I have confidence we will finally get some reform as soon as he takes control of BRT.— Capsulef
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- If Nutter ever succeeds in getting all the patronage bums out of City Hall, the place will look like an abandoned building. Good luck trying!— DonQ
- Still don't see Nutter as the savior. In my opinion he's loused just about everything else so far. The AVI #'s should be re-reviewed and tweaked where necessary then shipped out to our mail boxes. Cause no matter what set of #'s you use you'd better get ready for appeals. People that have been paying a fraction of what they shouldve been for decades are going to be screaming bloody murder.— Kennedy
- Ooooh I am scared, Mayor NuttBag, is furious, he is angry. What's going to happen? NOTHING! What a Fraud!— CrashTestCorzine
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- Nutter wants to raise our taxes by taking over the BRT. I'd rather have patronage employees running BRT than Nutter.— bahrvelous
- Its about time that something was done about this fiasco that is the BRT. Sadly, several City Council members, including Nutter, allowed this political patronage sham to go on for years. Now, Nutter has to appeal to this same City Council to strip the BRT of most of their salaries. Guess, late is better than never.— Boru
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- Okay so the BRT is BAD. We all get that, but how exactly will Mr. Nutter be any better? Something tells me he'll just play political football w/ this until his re-election campaign is over. Then (god for bid)if he is re-elected he'll jack everybody through the roof.— Kennedy
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- BRT inst the answer, but I think I'm more scared of Mayor Nutter. He OBVIOUSLY is not averse to taxing his citizens into oblivion.— Kennedy
DUMBOCRATS..what managers??- The BRT is acting so selfishly. It's a disgrace.— NickFromGermantown
- NUTTER/BRT DUMB & DUMBER— Kennedy
- Go Nutter! The BRT needs to go!— Philadelphiafreedom81
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