Councilman propose alterations to AVI

CITY COUNCILMAN Jim Kenney introduced a bill Thursday that would bring in $220 million less than what Mayor Nutter wants to collect under the Actual Value Initiative, a new property-tax system based on market values.

Nutter wants to raise $1.2 billion in property-tax revenue in 2014, the same amount as this year, which would mean a rate of 1.25 percent with no relief measures to mitigate the impact.

Kenney proposed a rate of 1 percent. The AVI discussion, he said, needs to go in a new direction.

"I want to use this vehicle as a discussion point and a potential goal to move the conversation toward operations, to tax collection, to the rate of tax collection, to the lack of tax collection in various areas of industry," Kenney said.

He thinks that the administration can trim spending or collect revenue owed instead of looking to taxpayers to fill the city's coffers while maintaining budgets for core services.

Kenney and other Council members have raised concerns about the accuracy of property assessments. He said that a lower rate could also mean fewer appeals.

Nutter, who's set to present his budget to Council next week, has said he will not seek any tax hikes.

Councilman David Oh, however, conveyed his skepticism for the budget process by introducing legislation for an amendment to the city charter that would give Council its own budget office, independent of the mayor.

"There is a certain amount of lack in believing exactly what is represented in the budget, which kind of came to light during last year's budget about the $94 million [for schools], and how broke we are and other types of representations which we cannot thoroughly look at," Oh said.

He said the office would examine city departments, programs and spending. He and other Council members have pointed to delays and difficulty in getting information from the administration.

Oh also introduced a bill that would allow eligible property owners to defer for five years property-tax increases of more than 250 percent, unless the properties are sold within that time.