Philadelphia, June 18, 2013 – Council President Darrell L. Clarke on Tuesday announced that City Council was prepared to exceed the School District of Philadelphia’s request for $60 million in emergency funding.

“City Council has passed legislation that raises taxes on tobacco in the City of Philadelphia,” Council President Clarke said. “Combined with improvement in tax collections projected by the Administration, we expect to deliver $74.4 million in new funding to our schools.”

The Fiscal Year 2014 budget expected to be approved by City Council on Thursday, June 20, 2013, appropriates more than $1 billion in total tax revenue to the School District of Philadelphia.

“Further, the Administration projects the new tobacco tax will raise nearly $90 million dollars in Fiscal Year 2015,” Council President Clarke said.

The new budget represents the third consecutive year of emergency funding requests from the School District of Philadelphia, which in March announced a deficit of more than $300 million. In Fiscal Year 2013, City Council raised taxes by $42.5 million for the School District over the previous fiscal year. In Fiscal Year 2012, City Council raised taxes by $82.5 million over the previous fiscal year.

“Currently, 55 percent of City property taxes goes to the School District of Philadelphia, which has been under state control for more than a decade. And 45 percent of revenues raised from property taxes goes to City services and functions, including public safety,” Council President Clarke said. “Meanwhile, City Council continues to have zero representation on the School Reform Commission. I anticipate meaningful discussions on this matter.”

Council President Clarke concluded: “I would like to thank the members of the Philadelphia Delegation in Harrisburg who fight passionately for our City’s schools. Council looks forward to a continued strong working relationship with the Philadelphia Delegation to address the challenges faced by the City of Philadelphia.”

Philadelphia, June 17, 2013 – The Special Investigative Committee examining City demolition procedures and operations in the wake of a deadly building collapse released its public hearing schedule on Monday.

The first hearing will take place in Council Chambers (Room 400 of City Hall) on Wednesday, June 19, 2013, at 10:00 a.m. Commissioner Carlton Williams of the Department of Licenses & Inspections is scheduled to testify.

All Special Investigative Committee hearings will commence at 10:00 a.m. in Council Chambers. The full schedule of hearings is as follows:

• June 19, 2013
• June 27, 2013
• July 11, 2013
• Aug. 1, 2013
• Aug. 13, 2013

Opportunities for members of the public to provide testimony will be announced shortly.

The Special Investigative Committee was appointed by Council President Darrell L. Clarke to investigate the June 5, 2013, building collapse that killed six people and injured 14 others. The Committee members are Councilman Curtis Jones, Jr. (chair), Councilwoman Jannie Blackwell, Councilman Bobby Henon, Councilman Jim Kenney, and Councilwoman Maria Quiñones Sánchez.

Philadelphia, June 10, 2013 – City Council on Monday announced the formation of a Special Investigative Committee to probe the deadly June 5, 2013, building collapse at 22nd and Market Streets and undertake a wholesale examination of City regulations and procedures in the areas of building safety, neighborhood development, construction and demolition, and licensing and certification.

Council President Darrell L. Clarke named the following members to the Special Investigative Committee: Councilwoman Jannie Blackwell (3rd District), chair of the Committee on Housing, Neighborhood Development & the Homeless; Councilman Bobby Henon (6th District), chair of the Committee on Public Property & Public Works; Councilman Curtis Jones Jr. (4th District), chair of the Committee on Public Safety; Councilman At-Large Jim Kenney, chair of the Committee on Labor & Civil Service; and Councilwoman María Quiñones Sánchez (7th District), chair of the Committee on Licenses & Inspections.

“There are legitimate questions as to whether the deaths of six people and injuries to fourteen others could have been prevented,” Council President Clarke said. “While our City mourns this terrible loss, it is on our leaders to examine the events leading up to the 22nd and Market demolition collapse and come up with ways to ensure something like this never happens again. The time for truly proactive government is now.”

The Special Investigative Committee will engage in a comprehensive review of the management and oversight of vacant and blighted buildings across the City; invite industry experts from Philadelphia and elsewhere to give testimony on best practices; and request information from City officials and businesses involved in the 22nd & Market demolition, by subpoena if necessary.

“Property owners have to be held responsible for their actions as well as their inactions,” Councilman Henon said. “Whether it’s a decision to leave a property to deteriorate or it’s a decision to try to save a few bucks by hiring untrained and incompetent contractors to do work

on a property, owners are responsible for the harm their decisions cause. If they are getting away with it in Center City, they are certainly getting away with it in our neighborhoods. The time to make aggressive changes is now.”

“I have long been a proponent of increasing our budgetary commitment to Licenses and Inspections,” Councilwoman Sánchez said. “In light of this tragedy, we need to carefully review our standards and practices for demolitions to ensure that our public safety agencies are following best practices and are adequately funded.”

“Last week’s tragedy proves that a building can be just as deadly as a gun,” Councilman Jones said. “As with guns, responsible ownership and management are vital to the public good. The Special Investigative Committee will explore better ways to incentivize good building stewardship – and penalize neglect and abandonment.”

“Preliminary reports indicate that the workers at this demolition site had no business being there,” Councilman Kenney said. “Examining just how these workers are vetted and finding ways to ensure construction and demolitions are done by truly qualified individuals will be a top priority of this Special Investigative Committee.”

“Residents across the City sound alarms about dangerous buildings and site work every day. Last week’s tragedy makes us wonder if the people are actually being heard by their government,” Councilwoman Blackwell said. “This tragedy demonstrates there not only must be greater communication among City departments, but also greater communication between the City and the people it serves and protects.”

A resolution creating the Special Investigative Committee will be introduced on Thursday, June 13, 2013. The Committee will release its findings and recommend revisions of legislation and City procedures, departmental funding levels, and disincentives for owners of vacant and blighted properties in a final report.

For more info contact: Jane Roh, Commuications Director – Jane.roh@phila.gov
 

For more on this legislation click the links below:

http://www.philly.com/philly/news/20130607_Clarke_plans_bill_on_vacant_properties.html

PHILADELPHIA, PA – Philadelphia moved a step closer to resolving its chronic tax delinquency problem, passing a pair of bills designed to encourage payments from delinquent taxpayers and bring Philadelphia’s revenue collection efforts up to contemporary standards.

Both measures seek to modify sections of Philadelphia City Code Title 19 and were co-sponsored by Council Majority Leader Curtis Jones, Jr. (D – 4^th) and Councilman Bill Green (D – At Large) on behalf of the Nutter Administration.

“We want to encourage people to bring their accounts into compliance with the law and realize whatever revenue we can,” Councilman Green said. “If we give people a rational path to pay off what they owe and stop the meter running, they are far more likely to do so.”

The first measure, Bill 120822, passed Council unanimously on April 4. It establishes fixed and more reasonable interest and penalty rates for all delinquent taxes other than real estate taxes and clarifies the language covering limitations of actions to recover and assess taxes for the City and School District.

“We want to make it easier for people to work with us in good faith to pay off their delinquent tax liability,” Councilman Jones said. “This measures provide reasonable terms for taxpayers to encourage them to pay off their delinquent accounts.”

Prior to this some delinquent business tax accounts saw interest at levels close to 50% between penalties and interest. These astronomical bills created tax payer paralysis. “The exorbitant level of interest and penalties in Philadelphia has been a long-standing issue that our members wanted to see addressed on behalf of their clients,” said Cheryl Upham, Secretary and Chair-Elect of the Philadelphia Bar’s State and Local Tax Committee.

This bill establishes simpler and more reasonable rates applied to interest and penalties, rates that are in line with contemporary standards throughout the financial community and other municipalities.

The second, Bill 120823-AA, became law at today’s Council session. It applies all payments made on delinquent accounts first to the principal amount owed, replacing the current system which applies payments to interest, principal and fees on a pro rata basis. It will also require receipts of all transactions upon tax payer request starting in 2015.

The result will be payments going towards reducing the principal, encouraging and enabling tax payers to actually get out of their debts.

“This is an important change for taxpayers,” Councilman Jones said. “This measure stops the process of taxpayers making regular payments and never seeing their balance go down.”

The bill originally applied the principal-first payment scheme to Business Income and Receipts Taxes (BIRT) and the enacted bill was amended by Councilmen Green and Jones to also apply to delinquent real estate accounts.

“The tax professional community has been seeking these changes for decades, both the reduction of interest and penalties regarding delinquent accounts and the reversal of proration by having payments go to principal first“ said Frances Beckley Chief Counsel to the Philadelphia Revenue Department.

Written by: Richard Doran

Philadelphia, May 23, 2013

“There are significant and legitimate concerns about the City’s assessments as relates to the Actual Value Initiative (AVI). A fair and accurate assessment is not possible when OPA does not know how many bathrooms are in a particular home, for example,” Council President Clarke (5^th District) said.

“This bill would require OPA to make freely available a full explanation of its methodology. It also requires OPA to post details of individual assessments on the City’s website,” Council President Clarke continued. “It is important to give the taxpayers of Philadelphia confidence their assessments are fair, accurate and transparent.”

The bill further requires OPA to demonstrate that its methodology is based on the most recent standards of the International Association of Assessing Officers (IAAO). In the District of Columbia, which recently conducted a mass reassessment, all of the data and calculations used in the assessment process are readily accessible to the public. The District of Columbia also requires the annual publication of a report measuring the fairness and accuracy of assessments.

“During numerous Council hearings, OPA’s inability to explain its own assessment methodology was almost comical. But no one in City Council is laughing, and certainly homeowners who are perplexed by their new assessments are not laughing,” said Councilman Henon, who introduced the ordinance on behalf of the co-sponsors.

“This bill holds OPA to commonsense standards of transparency. Philadelphia taxpayers deserve a more complete explanation of their bills than a math formula you need a Ph.D. to understand.”

The bill provides an additional check on assessments by authorizing City Council to hire an independent firm to audit OPA every three years. The first audit would be conducted in 2014.

“Mistakes will be made in any citywide reassessment, but it did not help that Philadelphia’s assessments were conducted in such a short time frame with an insufficient number of assessors,” Councilman Oh said.“The requirement for OPA to be audited by an independent firm on a regular basis will give Philadelphia taxpayers more reason to be confident their property assessments are done fairly and accurately.”

If the bill is approved by Council and signed by Mayor Michael A. Nutter, OPA will be required to maintain all records and supporting data used to certify property values for at least seven years. All such information must be available to the public.

A copy of the ordinance is attached. Also attached for informational purposes are the District of Columbia’s Real Property Tax Administration’s FY2013 Assessment Ratio Report and the Real Property Assessment Division’s Appraiser’s Reference Materials manual.

Philadelphia, May 9, 2013 – City Council on Thursday voted to extend the deadline to apply for residential property tax relief, commonly known as the Homestead Exemption, from July 31, 2013, to Sept. 13, 2013.

Owner-occupants are eligible to receive the Homestead Exemption, which could deliver hundreds of dollars in tax savings per household under the Actual Value Initiative (AVI) in Tax Year 2014.

Council also voted to allow persons who purchase homes within 30 days before the Sept. 13 deadline or shortly after to apply for the Homestead Exemption within 30 days of the date of transfer. The cut-off for such applications is Dec. 1, 2013.

According to the Nutter Administration, little over 50 percent of eligible homeowners have been approved for the Homestead Exemption. Council offices are reaching out to eligible households to inform them of the Homestead Exemption and to assist with the application process.

Co-sponsors of the deadline extension ordinance, introduced on Council President Clarke’s behalf by Councilman Curtis Jones, Jr. (4^th District) on April 18, include Councilwoman Cindy Bass (8^th District), Councilman At-Large Bill Greenlee, Councilman Bobby Henon (6^th District), Councilman Kenyatta Johnson (2^nd District), Councilman At-Large Jim Kenney, Councilman At-Large Dennis O’Brien,  Councilman Brian O’Neill (10^th District), Councilwoman Maria Quiñones Sánchez (7^th District), Councilman Mark Squilla (1^st District), and Councilwoman Marian Tasco (9^th District).

Councilwoman Jannie Blackwell (3^rd District) and Councilwoman At-Large Blondell Reynolds-Brown co-sponsored the ordinance allowing new home purchases to be Homestead-eligible.

With full participation in the Homestead Exemption program, as many as 72 percent of Philadelphia homeowners could get a property tax cut next year.

Mayor Michael A. Nutter is expected to sign Bill No. 130306 and Bill No. 130298.

Click below to go to Homestead Exemption Application site:

Homested Exemption Site

Recently City Council recognized the Philadelphia Phillies for their home field, Citizens Bank Park, becoming the first Autism friendly ballpark in the Major League. Through the continued efforts of Councilman At-Large Dennis O’Brien (pictured on right), a long-time advocate for Autism awareness, a relationship was forged between Dr. Wendy Ross’ non-profit – Autism Inclusion Resources (AIR) and the Phillies Organization. As a result all Phillies game day staff and vendors have been trained to better understand autism and how to help families enjoy the nation’s pastime. City Council recognized both Dr. Ross and the Philadelphia Phillies, who were represented by the Phillie Phanatic, with a Resolution for their action in this regard.

For more on this story click the link below:

http://mlb.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20130420&content_id=45329616&c_id=phi

Abraham Lincoln High School,
3201 Ryan Avenue,
Monday, April 29, 2013 at 6:30pm.

Philadelphia residents wishing to sign up to testify should call 215-686-3407. Written testimony may also be submitted by e-mail to budget.hearings@phila.gov. You may also be added to the list on-site.

Additionally, Councilman Henon’s office can be reached at (215) 686-3444

Council President Clarke, Councilman Henon and the entire Council look forward to receiving continued public input regarding the City’s FY’14 Budget.

Full Budget Schedule