Philly plans to mail tax-reassessment results in February
The City of Philadelphia plans to mail out results of a citywide reassessment of every taxable property on Feb. 15 - finally giving owners an idea of what it truly thinks their properties are worth.
The City of Philadelphia plans to mail out results of a citywide reassessment of every taxable property on Feb. 15 - finally giving owners an idea of what it truly thinks their properties are worth.
The city plans to switch next year to a system that assesses and taxes properties based on actual market value.
The city's determination of a property's true worth is key to the process, but City Council must still set the millage, or tax rate, next spring for the 2014 fiscal year.
That means homeowners wouldn't be able to accurately predict their future tax bills even after knowing the new values assigned by the city.
Mayor Nutter had hoped to institute the Actual Value Initiative (AVI) this year, but City Council delayed the change over uncertainties about the tax rate.
Council was generally supportive of a millage of about 1.2 percent of actual value but balked once estimates pushed the millage as high as 1.8 percent - the difference between $2,400 and $3,600 on a house valued at $200,000.
Property taxes this year - the 2013 tax year - will be based on 2011 assessments, under a system largely recognized to be broken and inequitable. This year's bills will be due by March 31, 2013.
If Council does, in fact, agree to switch to AVI next year, the first tax bills under the new system would be due by March 31, 2014.
Nutter administration officials had said they hoped to send out the results of the reassessment by September.
The mailing is being pushed back to February because the Office of Property Assessment has to stop work on the new numbers to deal with this year's tax bills based on the old system, officials said.
The new values now would arrive in mailboxes just weeks before Nutter reveals his next budget in his annual address to Council.
Nutter acknowledged that the process could be confusing to homeowners who would get their actual value assessments shortly before their 2013 tax bills are due. Nutter promised "continuous communication and education" for the public over the next six to eight months.
"The new assessments have nothing to do with the 2013 tax bill that property owners will be paying under the old system," he said. "As many times as we can say it, today, tomorrow, next week, next month, and into next year, unfortunately some people will get confused."
Nutter said the reassessment was largely completed and he expected "we'll be sharing a lot of information going back and forth" with lawmakers this fall.
The delay in moving to AVI also delays the program - approved in Harrisburg last month - to offer a homestead exemption.
Before AVI was delayed, the city was planning to mail out homestead applications this summer. Nutter also encouraged homeowners to download applications off the city's website.
Now, the applications will go out Sept. 1. The city plans to ask homeowners to return them by Nov. 15. Anyone who already returned an application will not have to complete another.
By law, the actual homestead application deadline isn't until the end of January 2013, but the administration is asking for an earlier deadline so the exemption can be reflected in assessments to be mailed out in February.
The homestead exemption is now set at $30,000, meaning that amount would be deducted from the value of a home before the millage rate is applied.
Council, however, could decide next year to change the homestead exemption.