Phila. will confront tax-delinquent employees

By Patrick Kerkstra

Inquirer Staff Writer

The Nutter administration and City Controller Alan Butkovitz have agreed in principle to begin withholding wages from tax-delinquent city employees, a step that comes amid mounting criticism of Philadelphia's seeming inability to collect what it is owed - even from its own workers.

By Aug. 10, the Department of Revenue will have finished work on a database detailing the amount owed by every tax-delinquent city worker, and it will send that information to Butkovitz, said Doug Oliver, a spokesman for Mayor Nutter.

Soon afterward, Butkovitz will send letters to those city workers informing them that they have 30 days to either pay their debt in full or enter into a long-term payment plan. If that is not done after the month is up, the city will begin deducting up to 20 percent of their paychecks to cover their past-due taxes.

The moves follow an Inquirer analysis last week of city payroll and tax-delinquency records that uncovered about 2,000 city employees and their spouses who owed $5 million in past-due property taxes.

Some had debts dating back more than 20 years, and one worker - an aide to Councilwoman Jannie L. Blackwell - had racked up a delinquent tax bill topping $96,000.

Citywide, there are nearly 100,000 delinquent properties on which is owed a combined total of $425 million, not including still-unpaid 2009 bills.

At this point, the only unresolved question about how to deal with the deadbeat city employees appears to be whether Butkovitz will deduct 20 percent or some lesser amount based on income.

First Deputy City Controller Harvey Rice said the office was researching its options.

State law gives Philadelphia the power to withhold wages to cover unpaid taxes only from city workers, not from other residents. The law vests that authority with the City Controller's Office.

The Nutter administration is also in the "final stages" of adopting a new policy that would require future city employees who owe back taxes to enter into payment agreements as a condition of employment, Oliver said.

Nutter has said the city was on its way to addressing the matter of tax-delinquent workers well before The Inquirer raised the issue with administration officials in May.

The city, however, had not stopped hiring tax-delinquent workers at that time.

Since late May, the Nutter administration has hired an additional five employees with past-due property-tax balances, according to the City Controller's Office.

Contact staff writer Patrick Kerkstra at 215-854-2827 or pkerkstra@phillynews.com.

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