Nutter Administration's Tax Reform Still Working Out Kinks 2 Years Later
By Pat Loeb
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- Philadelphia's property tax reform is taking longer to get rolling than expected. That's the conclusion of a new report by the Pew Charitable Trusts. The appeals process appears to be the culprit.
The Actual Value Initiative -- or AVI -- now two years old, replaced a cumbersome system that most agreed was unfair and out of date.
Pew researcher Emily Dowdall found it's gotten off to a slow start.
"The city has essentially spent the last two years adjusting the first round of AVI assessments." says Dowdall.
City officials blame the Board of Revision of Taxes which they say is moving too slow on appeals.
Dowdall says 59-thousand property owners appealed their AVI assessment -- 20 times more than usual. Seventeen-thousand were adjusted -- most downward.
"Through the review and appeals process, there was a reduction in overall taxable value of 1.7 billion dollars which did mean a reduction in revenue for the city."
More revenue is in limbo as thousands of appeals wait to be heard.
