Will there be a legitimate public debate about the city’s new property-tax system before it’s set in stone?
If there isn’t, timing might be to blame.
The Nutter administration is in the midst of fixing the city’s broken property-tax system, which has incorrectly valued people’s homes for years. It expects to mail out notices this fall informing owners of their new property values.
But under state law, Council must set a property-tax rate by June 30. Tax bills are calculated based on this rate as well as how much properties are worth according to the city.
This means that the new rate will be law before residents have a key piece of information — how much their homes are worth — and so they won’t know exactly how their property-tax bills will be affected. According to the Nutter administration, the numbers simply won’t be ready by this spring.
In a press release, former City Controller candidate Brett Mandel said this awkward timing will shortchange the public debate about property-tax changes, which have the potential to seriously affect residents, neighborhoods and development throughout the city.
“We taxpayers just won’t know how much extra we will pay until it is far too late to protest,” said Mandel, who has been critical of the Nutter administration in the past. He filed a lawsuit last year that asked the Common Pleas Court to declare that the current property-tax system is illegal, but it was dismissed.
Mandel added that it is “absolutely necessary” for the city to fix the property-tax system.
Rob Dubow, the city’s finance director, disagrees that there won’t be a real public debate about property-tax reform.
“I think there can be a full debate,” he said. “The underlying concept is something that everybody understands.”
Dubow argued that the public already has enough information to discuss specifics, like whether some residents will need property-tax relief. Mayoral spokesman Mark McDonald added that people will be able to weigh in on the new property-tax system at Council’s budget hearings this spring.
But some Council members have also expressed concern about the timing of the property-tax changes. Last month, Councilman Bobby Henon said, “I would not want a single person's property tax to raise in this calendar year without having all the proper information.”
David Glancey, former chairman of the Board of Revision of Taxes, has also said the timing is troubling. He’s worried that the state won’t pass “enabling” legislation, which would allow the city to provide property-tax relief to residents, in time for this issue to be discussed while Council is considering a budget.
Dubow pointed out that if residents think their new property values are wrong this fall, they can appeal them. But will they have the power to do anything about the city’s property-tax rate at that point?
“[If] they’re unhappy about the tax rate, then they can, you know, talk to their elected officials,” said Dubow.
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yes the public does have a say. Just stop paying.— OhOkay- So long as the property taxes are more even from one house to the next, without these huge unexplainable outliers, and it's based on objective data like recent property sales, then it passes the test of a fair, independent, nonpoliticized, objectively based legal system of assessments.
The city protects itself from endless appeals by having the factual standing to say "your house is more like you neighbors than it is different, and so are your property taxes."— CleanupPhilly - Under the old BRT plan, that was never enacted, my taxes were to go down hundreds of dollars per year. I fully expect to get shafted and have to contribute hundreds more per year to the tax-consumers under the new "plan".— psyrus
- I agree with Mandel that no one has the real data yet on what the city is planning to do, not even a little. Previously, the then-BRT tried to give folks a heads up on how things would work. Dubow has not released what rate is being considered. How can we let Council know what we think if we don't know what they are voting on in four months?
The property tax assessments should easily already be available online, but they are not. People would be mollified to be able to look on the block and see that their taxes are like a well-paved street -- the bumps are smoothed, the pot holes fixed.
The city is going to have to do some consumer education -- the property tax relief is going to primarily be for seniors and the documented disabled. Property taxes are not income taxes. You can't tie your property tax valuations to your income. You can't "inherit" a property tax assessment.— CleanupPhilly - Unemployed people can issue press releases?— bullrun
- property taxes should go down since they are worth less, wouldn't you agree? How are they getting their numbers? They never seem to tell anyone, there are so many questions that need to be answered but never will. I trully believe that everyone should lawyer up and not pay their taxes. Take them to court make them prove their numbers.— krautmef1
Comment removed.- Comment removed.
- @ franklinztower--I agree with you. If you can afford a $500,00 house or condo in center city--you should pay taxes just like those on fixed incomes or blue collar workers on limited incomes. My house is worth about $25,000 less than it was 5 years ago, but my taxes keep going up to support the freeloaders and Section 8ers and the abaters who pay none.— crystalrainbowspirit1
- I totally agree to get rid of the tax abatement...ten years and no tax? That's just simply crazy....— scrollersam
- I live in a twin home and I pay more than the house I'm attached to. how is this fair help me please— RichH
- The only way to respond to this backdoor tax increase so that the administration under nutter and the council can squander revenue is to move out of this crime infested city— the commodore
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