Clarke proposes alternative to Nutter's tax increase

Philadelphia City Council President Darrell L. Clarke launched his first official strike against Mayor Nutter's proposed 9.3 percent property tax increase by introducing his own plan for a new school-funding stream.

Clarke introduced a bill Thursday that would authorize the city to sell liens on commercial properties and use the revenue for schools.

The Council president was vague in how much money his proposal was expected to bring. A news release sent by his staff said that "millions of dollars in new revenue from selling commercial liens could be sent to the School District of Philadelphia annually."

The bill, however, hardly has teeth. The city already has the option of selling the liens. It just has chosen not to do so.

"In recent years, we've had a number of proposals to increase city revenue through the use of tax-lien sales," mayoral spokesman Mark McDonald said. "We will carefully scrutinize the proposal."

Clarke is hoping that the city reconsiders the tax-lien-sale strategy given the School District's desperate need for money. He, like most Council members, is looking at ways to fund the schools without Nutter's tax increase.

"Mayor Nutter is asking for another tax hike from homeowners to fund our struggling school system," Clarke said in the news release, "but this city cannot say with full confidence that it is doing everything it can to collect from those who owe."

Council passed a similar bill in 2013. Nutter signed the bill, but added that his Law Department had concluded that Council had no authority over tax-lien sales and that a bill "authorizing" the city to sell liens would have "no legal effect." No liens were sold under that legislation.

"Not only do our schools receive immediate new funding," Clarke said in his statement, "but the time-consuming and costly endeavor of chasing tax delinquents will be shared with the private sector."

McDonald countered that selling commercial-property liens would be a "one-time minor infusion of money," and that the property-tax increase would create a recurring revenue stream.

Last time Philadelphia tried a tax-lien sale, during Mayor Ed Rendell's administration, it didn't go well.

The city used $106 million owed in back taxes as collateral to borrow $75 million for the schools and economic development projects. Private agencies had trouble collecting the taxes, and the city was forced to default on $46 million worth of bonds in 2004.

Also Thursday:

Clarke introduced two bills to stiffen the fines imposed for illegal dumping by construction crews on projects worth more than $10,000. One would require contractors to provide the city with a detailed waste-collection plan, including how construction debris would be disposed. The second would impose a $10,000 fine for illegal dumping.

Nutter and all members of Council signed onto a letter by Councilman Mark Squilla that invites those impacted by controversial religious freedom laws in Indiana and Arkansas to relocate to Philadelphia. "We also encourage elected officials behind these 'religious freedom' laws to visit Independence Hall, the Liberty Bell, or the National Constitution Center," Squilla's letter reads, "for a refresher course on the religious persecution this country was founded to escape."