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Councilman Kenney pledges 'militant' response to AVI
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Councilman Kenney pledges 'militant' response to AVI
Philly City Council members — and residents at large — are only beginning to absorb what the full impact of new property tax assessment figures released by the city on Friday will mean in Philadelphia's neighborhoods. But Councilman Jim Kenney is upset enough by the numbers that he's promising to take on the administration to ensure residents don't get driven out of their homes, which he now sees as very real possibility. "We're looking at everything from legislation to suing. I'm not just going to turn my back on these people after all these years. ... We're exploring every possibility and it will be a militant effort."
Kenney and Councilman Mark Squilla are planning to educate and organize residents about the new assessments, which were generated as part of the Actual Value Initiative (AVI).He says that will probably include "busing in whole entire streets at the same time" to submit appeals. Kenney says he's also heard that Councilman Kenyatta Johnson, Councilman Bobby Henon, Councilwoman Cindy Bass and Council President Darrell Clarke share some concerns about the assessments' impacts on poor and working-class neighborhoods from Port Richmond to Whitman. Squilla told the Daily News the assessments were unfair, and he'll be challenging their accuracy. How he'll be able to do that through legislation is unclear.
Kenney also wasn't sure yet about the legal grounds for suing the city over the assessments. (Individual homeowners do have a couple ways to appeal their assessments.) But he said Council is not out of options: Possiblities include looking to roll back the "temporary" tax increases that Council made permanent last year, or forcing the administration's hand by refusing to match its revenue goals. "If I can't get any cooperative relief, I'm not voting for anything over 1.0-percent millage rate," he said.
Kenney says he believes the administration had the numbers long before they were released. "Now the horse is out of the gate, and it's just, like, 'Tough.' I resent that whole attitude." The administration did not respond to a request submitted Friday for an interview with its chief assessor. But Mayor Nutter told reporters Friday that AVI was a "historic" move toward accurate assessments.
"We'll be driving people out of the city," Kenney says. "When a working-class woman or a working-poor woman who lives at Fifth and Moore is going to experience a $1,700 increase in her tax bill next year, something is wrong. Just because the property is determined by the Office of Property Asseessment to be a certain value doesn't mean it is. At Fifth and Moore, people who live there struggle."
More grandstanding and bs by Kenney. There is an easy way to address the concern. Even the dimbulbs on council understand it.
If you were paying $500 and now have to pay $1500 because you are a longtime resident whose property resident has gone up (a good thing), then continue paying $500, maybe with some reasonable 5% increase a year. But let the $1000 accrue uncollected as a lien against the property at a reasonable rate (not usurious penalty rates the city collects from others, but enough to compensate for the cities financing cost).
The city will get the full tax owed when the resident sells or dies. The resident continues paying at their current rates. If the city needs the cash, they can sell off the liens to an insurance company (or even better cut out the middle man and contribute it to the city pension funds).
The only loser here is the heir to the longtime resident. And even this person is not a loser since the value of their property increased by far more than the taxes.
This is obvious. the problem is that council is not interested in doing the right thing. Kenney is trying to give a gift to longterm residents who he thinks are more worthy than newcomers who invested in the city (and who are more likely machine voters). He hopes for headlines like this where the uninformed property owners think he is actually fighting for people like them. But he isn't.
This solution is obvious and fair. No one loses their home for taxes. No one gets a windfall. The city gets the tax money. Rates stay lower for everyone.
But council is not interested in fair or right. They want to create winners and losers and false perception that they are trying to do the right thing. They are not.
— PhillyNetTaxPayer- This guy is a horrible public official. He sits an the city council that does nothing for the people. Instead of working for solutions to a potential problem his answer is to bus people in and overload a city agency! How about actually doing something to cut waste, fraud and abuse within City Hall? How about getting tax deadbeats in jail or seize their property? When will the people of Philly rise up and throw all of our political class out? Start with criminal Blondell Reynolds Brown!
www.RECALLBLONDELLREYNOLDSBROWN.ORG !— SPENDSPEND
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