Delinquent city taxpayers would be disqualified from seeking zoning variances under a bill slated for introduction in City Council this morning.
"With the city in dire need of funds, and owed over $1 billion, this will be yet another tool to recover monies owed to the city," Rizzo said.
Rizzo's chief of staff, Stewart Graham, said the bill had been vetted by the city law department to make sure it passes Constitutional muster. The bill would require anyone seeking a variance for their property to receive certification from the Revenue Department that all their taxes are paid up to date, or are subject to a payment agreement with the city.
A property owner could avoid this requirement by producing " evidence that denial of a variance would effect an unconstitutional taking of the property," according to the bill.
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How can denial of a variance cause an "unconstitutional taking of the property?" If you don't pay your property taxes, you lose your property to foreclosure in a fully legal process that is specifically outlined. City Council isn't realizing that the problem is not the legal builders going for variances in most cases, though I applaud the bill. The problem is that the city simply does not enforce and collect at foreclosure. The press has to do some independent investigation of this. Contact Ed Goppelt. Zip codes in Philly are still carrying delinquency rates of 40% to almost half of all owners not paying, in areas that have good comparatives sales of properties. This is not a few isolated zip codes, either. In my zip, 19146, or SWCC, there is a property tax delinquency rate of one in four owners. The owners that owe are not builders, typically. They are just MIA, in prison, or know that they don't have to pay, or have bad deeds they can't sell with, in other words, the deadbeats are the owners who have to go to sheriff sale for the city to get their money. There's no avoiding foreclosure for the city to get paid, so why is this administration so obsessed with avoiding all foreclosure and dismantling sheriff sales? There is a time to reap, and a time to sow. They needs to start reaping what it is owed in a serious fashion, not by just chipping away at the edges of this debt.— CleanupPhilly- Please, please, please stop granting zoning variances that turn single family residences into multi-family residences. This has hurt us so much. It's allowed unethical real estate investors to run amok on our city.— NickFromGermantown
- The city's sheriff sale process sabotages the city itself. There won't be another Tax Lien sale until Feb., 2010. What kind of city does that? Does the need for making payments by the city stop until Feb., 2010? No costs are incurred by the city until then, so we can hold off? See www.phillysheriff.com and click on "Tax Lien Sales." This is not how to have schools. Even members of Council send their kids outside the city every day to private schools, on the city's transport dime. How long are we going to keep pretending this is the best way to do things?— CleanupPhilly
- Also, if I think that if you own any property that is delinquent on taxes, L&I should automatically deny rental license applications.— NickFromGermantown
- This city is still owed about $400 million in overdue property taxes. Just requiring the few people who are doing legit building to pay up doesn't touch the blighted wrecks that owe money and need to go to foreclosure, with the clock starting when the city first initiated proceedings, and not all new proceedings with fresh private collectors. Come on. This is not rocket science people, and mandatory debt service is right around the corner. It will also promote the local economy as builders come back in to in-fill develop. The only loser are the bad city council reps who need the deadbeat vote. How long is the state going to let Philly be like this?— CleanupPhilly
- Delinquent, past-due, etc.? Just say NO to everything.— tonyS
- People who live in Philadelphia and Pittsburgh who don't pay their taxes are granted extra time to comply before proceedings happen. Wonder why?— Eric
- NickFromGermantown, my guess is many single family residences that are converted to multi-family don't get a varience anyway. They just do it illegally.— Nick19128
- Why do my taxes continue to fund libraries, police overtime, health clinics, community centers, and other programs that are entirely focused on these neighborhoods where most of these tax deadbeats live?— philly57
- The city might as well forcelose on all houses owned and occupied by legal property owners. It is stuck in not being able to collect one billion dollars in unpaid taxes that it has nothing to sell except what is inside William Penn's hat on top of City Hall - no brains inside the hat!— James
Hotel "6" formerly Days Inn, Econolodge and number of changing names at 20th & Penrose Avenue in South Philadelphia is a major deadbeat. (Orignially built for the 1976 Bicentenial overflow) It also got lucrative City contracts for rooms for DHS was under contract and still doesnot pay it's taxes. Shouldn't the City Controller hold that up? Area Civic groups and Politians like Ron Donatucci want to know and objected to a recent variance for a Liquor License...."Who does the Onwer Know (Nutter)? or it it just city lax practices"- I think it's pretty obvious at this point that we need a task-force to go after delinquents and slumlords. It's a huge job, but it must be done. Blight is devastating to communities.— NickFromGermantown
Comment removed.- Gee, in this day and age of computers, to me it doesn't seem to take a lot to run a computer program that matches those that OWE the city, with the accounts payable of checks the city intends to cut in the near future, and to have them hold the checks or OFFSET the amounts they were going to pay against the amounts due. There simply is no reason why the city cannot collect from those that continue to do business with the city. Is Butkovitz being told not to offset checks and to pay all bills without determining if the payee owes the city?— Philly_Guy
- Comment removed.
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