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Council gets briefed on AVI numbers today; debate over homestead exemptions may be a sticking point
City Council will get a briefing on more detailed property-tax-assessment numbers today, the first close-up look most have gotten beyond the broad-stroke figures released by Mayor Nutter in December as part of an effort to get assessments closer to their real values (aka the Actual Value Initiative or AVI). Council President Darrell Clarke's office has already received a full breakdown of the assessments of city properties, details of which will be going out to property owners Feb. 15.
Council gets briefed on AVI numbers today; debate over homestead exemptions may be a sticking point
City Council will get a briefing on more detailed property-tax-assessment numbers today, the first close-up look most have gotten beyond the broad-stroke figures released by Mayor Nutter in December as part of an effort to get assessments closer to their real values (aka the Actual Value Initiative or AVI). Council President Darrell Clarke's office has already received a full breakdown of the assessments of city properties, details of which will be going out to property owners Feb. 15.
One Council staffer said a preliminary peek at the numbers had revealed some assessment oddities in certain neighborhoods, where homes appeared to the staffer to be undervalued by more than 50 percent. However, since assessments were done based on the exteriors of homes, and since finding comparable properties can be difficult in some neighborhoods where property values change drastically from block to block, that's perhaps to be expected.
A more pertinent question is what Council will do when it gets a look at those values. Most importantly for homeowners: Will Council members rally around the idea of a homestead exemption once the numbers are in front of them?
Counciman Bill Green, for one, is against it. He says the lowest possible millage rate will be the way to go. As the law now stands, he says, "AVI will take effect and the rate will be 1.39 percent, based on the current number of people who are taking homestead exemptions. … The only way to lower the rate and collect the same amount of money is to change the relief measures."
Green will introduce legislation either this week or next to eliminate or change the homestead exemption. He's looking to get the overall millage rate down to 1.3 percent. "It's hard to make the argument that the lowest millage rate is not the best millage rate in terms of attracting residents."
Meanwhile, Green says all the chatter about striking down the state constitution's uniformity clause, which would enable the city to tax businesses and residents at separate rates is, while necessary for the future, merely a "distraction" from the issues at play for the coming year. He says it wouldn't actually be a reality for three or four years. Likewise, Mayor Nutter's efforts to crack down on tax delinquents can't be factored into the millage rate, he says.
However, Green and Councilwoman Maria Quinones-Sanchez are, after a year of tinkering and negotiating with the administration, ready to move forward on a bill that would require the city to move faster on tax foreclosures. The draft legislation would require properties to be foreclosed within a year of deliqnuency if they're not owner occupied, or wihtin several years if they are owner occupied. It would also require the city to provide means-tested payment agreements for people who want to negotiate.
How the notoriously backlogged Revenue Department and Sheriff — which has not yet met the Mayor's stated goal of 600 sheriff's sales a month — will be able to meet that law's requirements, Green couldn't say. "That's the beauty of being in the legislature. We get to pass the laws and then the mayor has to implement them. It's been a problem since I've been in City Council, and I believe that unless there's legal requirement to deal with it, I don't believe anything will change. So that's what I'm trying to put in place, is that legal requirement."
Councilman Mark Squilla, meanwhile, does see it as possible to count on delinquent tax collection in factoring the millage rate. "[AVI] definitely needs to include collection of back debt and taxes not being paid. ... We need to havea number that we will include in our budget, of some tax collection that is necessary for AVI to move forward. If we have to reach a certain number, $1.2 billion, we could include $100 million of tax collection in that number. Maybe we would be able to lower our rate that residents will have to pay under AVI."
When CP checked in with Squilla couple weeks ago, he acknowledged that all releif measures were up in the air. "I don't think there's anything that has nine votes, whether it's a gentrification bill, a homestead exemption, or if the state bill passes and you can lien other properties [of tax delinquents who own land outside Philly], if you can end the uniformity clause. ... All these things are still in limbo. Some tools we may have the option to use, some we won't."
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