Legal News

Nutter Announces Moratorium on Property Tax Reassessment

By Brian Harris

By Amaris Elliott-Engel
Of the Legal Staff

Mayor Michael A. Nutter announced further changes to the city's property tax assessment body today, imposing a moratorium on new property tax assessments. The halt is effectively immediately, Nutter said, except for assessments for new construction and rehabilitation of buildings.

Richard Negrin, the interim executive director of the Board of Revision and Taxes, said the moratorium is necessary because there are so many problems in data collected in the assessment of properties for property taxes, and the BRT employees must get trained in order to carry out assessments effectively.

The BRT has come under fire because of many problems in the assessment of taxes.

Meanwhile, an employee of the BRT, who is the ward leader in lower Northeast Philadelphia's 33rd Ward, filed a lawsuit last night seeking an injunction blocking the transfer of authority away from the BRT to the executive branch of city government until the changes are approved by voters in a referendum.

Plaintiff Donna Aument argues in court papers that state law is being violated because changes are being made to the BRT before approval of the voters has finalized the changes, including the transfer of BRT employees from the Philadelphia School District payroll to the city of Philadelphia's payroll.

It was announced at the press conference that BRT employees must take a civil service exam to continue their employment at the BRT, and the results of the exam are to be finalized in March.

Aument's lawsuit may be made moot. City Council passed a bill in December to abolish the BRT, said Tony Radwanski, a spokesman for City Council President Anna Verna. And Nutter said that the voters would be asked to approve the changes to the BRT in a referendum in the May election.

Nutter said that once voters approve the change that the same organization no longer would be assessing property values and hearing the appeals of those values.

Nutter said he was not aware of the lawsuit.

Full post as published by The Legal Intelligencer Blog on January 26, 2010 (boomark / email).