Tax Questions, Frank Answers

Councilman DiCicco pays 15 percent of the property taxes his neighbors pay. He says it’s just timing.

Councilman Frank DiCicco lives at 1207 S. 11th St., a redbrick townhouse in the middle of a line of nearly identical single-family homes all built in the 1990s. All the properties have the same assessed value, so why are DiCicco’s real estate taxes less than $350 a year when his neighbors all pay more than $2,000? That was what constituents wanted to know at a contentious July 16 community meeting in South Philadelphia.

Ed Kirlin, a member of the electricians union who lives in DiCicco's district, asked the councilman about his taxes. DiCicco answered that the townhouses on his block are all covered by the same three-year tax abatement, but while the abatements on his neighbors' homes had lapsed, his has not.

Kirlin wouldn't talk about the meeting but a number of DiCicco constituents did.

In a neighborhood where DiCicco has plenty of supporters and plenty of opponents -- where last week he lost a hotly contested election for leader of the 2nd Ward -- there was little agreement on whether DiCicco had adequately answered the question.

According to Democratic committeeman Eric Lincoln, who led the community meeting, DiCicco was "sort of taken aback. He was caught off-guard [by the question]." DiCicco only answered Kirlin's question when Lincoln, in his capacity as emcee, insisted on it.

But not everyone thought DiCicco's answer was insufficient. Republican committeman Jimmy Thomas says, "They were trying to make Frankie DiCicco look like an idiot and he came out smelling like roses. I think he did a good job telling them the way it is."

Ed Goppelt, who runs Hallwatch.org, a website on Philly politics, also attended the meeting. "There was this fellow Ed Kirlin who was there, along with two other beefy-looking guys," says Goppelt, who lives in DiCicco's district. "Councilman DiCicco identified them as being members of the electricians union. Kirlin said there was a paper circulating in the 2nd Ward that said DiCicco was paying less property taxes than his neighbors. I checked it out, and it was true. I thought he had a good explanation for that, which was everyone on that block had abatements. It was just that his house was built last so his abatement hadn't expired yet."

Despite finding DiCicco's explanation credible, Goppelt still has tax data for DiCicco and his neighbors posted on his website.

Richard Haas, a property evaluation supervisor at the Board of Revision of Taxes, says the office has reviewed DiCicco's real estate taxes and concluded that his abatement is legitimate and still in effect.

The tax law that applies to DiCicco's home is a three-year tax abatement on newly constructed properties purchased by an owner-occupier. The abatement takes effect only when the new owner moves in. Since DiCicco filed an affidavit asserting that he had moved into the property in late 1999 even though he purchased the property back in 1996, his abatement took effect on Jan. 1, 2000. Since DiCicco's neighbors moved in earlier and applied for their abatements at that time, their abatements have already lapsed.

"It took me a long time to finish it," says DiCicco, referring to the townhouse he had built to his specifications. "I didn't move in until '99. I was living at my mother's."

When asked why he listed 1207 S. 11th St. as his residence in 1997 filings with the State Ethics Commission, DiCicco responded, "I own the [1207 S. 11th St.] property. I listed it as my residence. I didn't own my mother's house."

By moving in only after the house was completed, DiCicco reaped the maximum possible benefit from the tax abatement, since the more work he put into the house, the higher its value.

DiCicco says he recently received a letter in the mail from the Board of Revision of Taxes notifying him that, after his abatement expires at the end of the year, he will pay the same $2,182 annual tax bill that his neighbors pay.

"My three-year entitlement is over, but not because of the three goons who make $100,000 a year who asked the question," DiCicco says, referring to Kirlin -- who is a member of IBEW Local 98, a staunch DiCicco opponent -- and his crew.

DiCicco also notes that he has been City Council's leading proponent for tax abatements to encourage new residential development. In fact, DiCicco quips, if he built his house today, he would be eligible for a 10-year tax abatement because of a bill he authored that became law.

DiCicco purchased the land for his house from Champion Investment. This is not the well-known national firm Champion Mortgage whose ads boast "When your bank says no, Champion says yes." Champion Investment is a real estate firm not even listed in the Philadelphia phonebook. According to the deeds to a number of the houses on DiCicco's block, Champion Investment is state Sen. "Vincent J. Fumo, trading as Champion Investment."

Fumo spokesman Gary Tuma said that the senator did not know any of the details of the tax abatements since "he was the owner of record but he was not the developer."

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