CITY HALL SAM: Hurdles For The A.V.I.

The suspense is building on MAYOR MICHAEL NUTTER’S Actual Value Initiative in Harrisburg. The Mayor has had to deal with a number of personality hurdles with members of the House and Senate delegation. Nutter believes he needs to pass legislation without amendments in order to implement his plan to collect $100 million from property owners in Philadelphia to help the School District.

A number of Philadelphia legislators, including STATE REPS. MIKE McGEEHAN and MIKE O’BRIEN as well as STATE SEN. LARRY FARNESE, have been demanding a revenue-neutral plan. This would mean that Nutter could not specifically identify the amounts of revenue he was trying to collect for the School District.

The bill was originally going to be considered this week; now may be considered next week; however, it may never get considered at all. Delaware Co. Senate MAJORITY LEADER DOMINIC PILEGGI has indicated that he is in no hurry to help the Mayor inflict a middle-class tax increase on Philadelphians and any legislation he would consider must be revenue-neutral.

In case AVI passes, O’Brien, COUNCILMAN BOB HENON and other Philly elected officials have started to reach out to constituents and urge them to apply for a homestead exemption that could knock off $15,000 or more from homeowners’ property-tax bills. The deadline to apply for the homestead exemption is 60 days. Ironically, some believe that deadline is currently running even though the legislation has not been passed. This may end up in the courts.

WILLIAM DUNBAR, the candidate for State Representative, was a guest of honor at the Omni Hotel in Center City last week. In attendance were WARD LEADERS BOB DELLAVELLA, DONNA AUMENT, TOMMY JOHNSON and DAN SAVAGE. Well-known political operative CYNTHIA MARELIA was also on hand, as well as a large number of donors. Dunbar is running against highly regarded STATE REP. JOHN TAYLOR.

Well-respected former STATE SEN. CHARLES LEMMOND passed away at the age of 82. Lemmond represented Northeastern Pennsylvania for 20 years. He was considered friendly, and a socially compassionate fiscal conservative. He cared deeply about hearing loss, children’s health and judicial issues.

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