Pew Study: AVI Places Burden On Residential Property
As a result of the property tax overhaul known as the Actual Value Initiative, residential property will account for a greater share of Philadelphia’s total property value — and thus the property tax burden — in 2014 than in 2013, according to a new report from The Pew Charitable Trusts. For the residential sector as [...]
City Controller Alan Butkovitz has released an independent review of the City’s 2014 full-value reassessment that indicates the Actual Value Initiative did not improve accuracy, uniformity and fairness. The Office of Property Assessment’s 2014 taxable property values are highly variable in quality, which is well beyond the standards set by the International Association of Assessing [...]
State Sen. LeAnna M. Washington (D-Northwest) has received communication from Revenue Secretary Dan Meuser containing followup from the Feb. 26, 2013 Appropriations hearing. Meuser said in the letter the Commonwealth may owe millions in consultancy and legal fees. To which, Washington answered, “Throughout the Lottery private-management process, I have repeatedly asked about the projected consultancy [...]
Council President Darrell L. Clarke (5th Dist.) has introduced an ordinance extending the deadline for property owners to apply for the Homestead Exemption, which could mean hundreds of dollars in savings per household after the implementation of the Actual Value Initiative in Tax Year 2014. The ordinance, introduced on Council President Clarke’s behalf by Councilman [...]
BY MICHAEL P. BOYLE, ESQ./ The recent NPR series, “Unfit for Work: The Startling Rise of Disability in America” (see http://apps.npr.org/unfit-for-work/), mentioned what it termed “The Disability-Industrial Complex”. The story’s clear suggestion is that lawyers looking for clients are to blame for the rise in people obtaining disability benefits. This is complete nonsense and is [...]
House Urban Affairs Committee approved legislation to give tax relief to Philly homeowners affected by AVI. State Rep. Cherelle Parker (D-Northwest), who is chairwoman of the Philadelphia Delegation, said the bills represent months of collaboration among members of the House and Senate delegations, the Nutter administration and city council. Parker said the Delegation ”recognized the need to [...]
The City of Philadelphia and Comcast have begun the cable franchise renewal process. A cable franchise enables the franchise holder to use the City’s “right-of-ways” for an agreed term of years to operate its system and deliver cable service. In 2015, the City of Philadelphia’s current 15-year cable-television franchise agreement with Comcast Cable will expire. [...]
With unanimous bipartisan support, the House Gaming Oversight Committee advanced a proposal offered by Democratic Chairwoman Rosita C. Youngblood (D-Northwest), which would require the Commonwealth to study the allocation of gaming revenue provided to Philadelphia from licensed casino gaming. The resolution (HR 86), which was backed by Philadelphia State Reps. Angel Cruz, Maria Donatucci, Stephen [...]
The impact of City Council Resolution 130168, which amended Resolution 12001, has made it incumbent upon Council Members to begin servicing the revised Council Districts to which they may or not be reelected. Effective the first of April, Council Members will find the new Council maps are now their primary responsibilities. This means they could [...]
AVI continues to dominate the agenda as City Council’s Committee of the Whole took testimony on the Mayor’s budget, with a focus on the hottest issue in town. All city departments seeking funding authority are now required to transmit testimony to Council, but only heads of departments with current operating budgets greater than $5 million [...]
