DAVID SWANSON / Staff Photographer
Ousted BRT board member Joseph A. Russo was cited in a report for, among other things, his role in raising the tax assessment on a former convent in South Philadelphia.
The city's judges fired Joseph A. Russo from the Board of Revision of Taxes yesterday, after a scathing report from the city inspector general said he had manipulated property assessments, abused his power, and committed perjury.
The sudden firing of Russo, a longtime ally of former State Sen. Vincent J. Fumo, appeared to be unprecedented in the 155-year history of the BRT, the agency that sets tax values for all properties in Philadelphia.
"He did not uphold the standards expected of appointees," President Judge Pamela Pryor Dembe said. She said the vote was unanimous and the firing effective immediately.
Russo's attorney, Nino V. Tinari, said it was "extremely disappointing" that the judges fired Russo without giving him a chance to tell his version of events.
"All I know is the full story has not come out," Tinari said.
The findings, many of which were detailed as part of a three-part series in The Inquirer early this month, focus mainly on Russo's role in the 2000 reassessment of an old convent and Catholic school on Moyamensing Avenue in South Philadelphia.
Russo has extensive ties to Fumo. He was president of Citizens' Alliance for Better Neighborhoods, the charity Fumo controlled, and the IG report identified payments and reimbursements to Russo from Fumo's campaign committee. The report, by Inspector General Amy Kurland, also claims that Fumo later secured Russo his seat on the BRT board.
"Russo's actions clearly destroyed the public's trust and confidence in the operations of the BRT and in his ability to be a fair, efficient, and impartial city employee," reads the confidential report, which The Inquirer obtained.
Kurland said she was "very pleased" that the judges accepted her recommendation.
She said her investigation into the BRT continues.
"Russo's improper conduct as a BRT board member perpetuates the public's belief that those without political influence are powerless when confronted by the force of the government and those with political influence can do as they want," the report reads.
A BRT spokesman said the judges did the right thing.
"You can't manipulate values," spokesman Kevin Feeley said. "The BRT believes it is critically important to protect the integrity of the valuation process."
Earlier yesterday, Russo's fellow board members held a a private discussion and asked him to stay away from their meetings until the issues were resolved.
"They did what they had to do," said BRT member Russell Nigro, a former state Supreme Court justice.
The Catholic school incident happened when Fumo was trying to use Citizens' Alliance to buy the property and convert it into a charter school.
When owner Alan Hunter refused to sell, an enraged Fumo ordered Russo, through e-mails to his son-in-law and then-staffer Christian Marrone, to increase Hunter's assessment.
Although Hunter wanted more than $1 million for the property, the BRT's market value for tax purposes was just $200,000.
"Let it go to market value of $1 million . . . and we'll see how long he wants to sit on the building," Fumo wrote.
Russo, who was a BRT property evaluator at the time, obliged Fumo and asked another evaluator, Elizabeth Aros, to raise Hunter's assessment, the report said.
That was against BRT rules, the inspector general said. Aros was so upset that she went to her boss, Eugene Davey, who told her to investigate what the value should be.
Later, Russo went to Aros again and gave her documents to support a higher assessment, including a letter from Hunter to his real estate agent and an appraisal from Harvey Levin that set the property value at $600,000. Levin is a BRT board member who at the time was working for Citizens' Alliance.
Aros saved the papers at her house and turned them over to the inspector general.
It turned out those were the only documents available. The BRT said it lost its own file, the report says.
In an interview yesterday, Davey said he didn't remember Aros' talking to him.
