BRT Board: We’re gonna need more money

The Board of Revision of Taxes may be down, but they're definitely not out.

The BRT Board - which only hears property tax appeals after being stripped of much of its power - on Monday told City Council they may need more than the $708,540 allocated for the coming fiscal year.

Chairman Alan Silberstein said the BRT will need $84,000 to hire between two and four temporary staffers if the city moves forward with the Actual Value Initiative, an effort to use market value property assessments. He estimated there could be between 35,000 and 45,000 appeals due to AVI.

"If AVI happens we would need more paper, we'd need another copy machine, we'd need more everything," Silberstein said after the hearing.

Finance Director Rob Dubow said the city would work with the BRT on resources when the level of appeals is clear.

The BRT Board said the city may also have to boost their salaries. Two years ago, at Mayor Nutter's urging, Council approved legislation to cut the board's salaries from between $70,000 and $75,000 to between $40,000 and $50,000.

But the Board sued to block the effort and won in Common Pleas Court. The city has appealed the ruling. Should the Board emerge victorious, they said they will need an additional $202,000.

The failures of the BRT were documented in an Inquirer series, which blasted the agency for a legacy of political patronage and inaccurate assessments.

Voters in 2010 voted to abolish the BRT and replace it with the Office of Property Assessment and an independent Board of Property Assessment Appeals. But after a lawsuit from the BRT board, the state Supreme Court ruled that the city didn't have the power to abolish the board. So although the city has taken over assessments, the BRT continues to hear appeals.

The city is trying to get state lawmakers to abolish the BRT. Legislation has passed in the state Senate, but has not advanced in the state House. Silberstein said that appeals should be heard by an independent board.

Contact Catherine Lucey at 215-854-4172 or luceyc@phillynews.com, or follow on Twitter @phillyclout. Read her blog at www.phillyclout.com.