COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF PHILADELPHIA COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE Room 400, City Hall Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Monday, April 29, 2024 1:00 p.m. PRESENT: COUNCIL PRESIDENT KENYATTA JOHNSON COUNCILMEMBER NINA AHMAD COUNCILMEMBER CINDY BASS COUNCILMEMBER KENDRA BROOKS COUNCILMEMBER MICHAEL DRISCOLL COUNCILMEMBER JAMIE GAUTHIER COUNCILMEMBER KATHERINE GILMORE RICHARDSON COUNCILMEMBER JIM HARRITY COUNCILMEMBER CURTIS JONES, JR. COUNCILMEMBER RUE LANDAU COUNCILMEMBER QUETCY LOZADA COUNCILMEMBER NICOLAS O'ROURKE COUNCILMEMBER ANTHONY PHILLIPS COUNCILMEMBER MARK SQUILLA COUNCILMEMBER ISAIAH THOMAS COUNCILMEMBER JEFFERY YOUNG, JR. BILLS 240179, 240180, 240181, and 240182 RESOLUTION 240193 - - 4/29/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC.
Good afternoon, everyone. This is the public meeting of the Committee on the Whole regarding Resolution No. 240261. Thank you for being here today. Mr. Christmas, will you please call the roll to take attendance.
Councilman O'Neill. (No response.) 4/29/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC.
Present. Thank you. A quorum of the Committee is present and this meeting is now called to order. Mr. Christmas, will you please read the title of the resolution. 4/29/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC.
Resolution confirming the re-appointment of Joyce Wilkerson to the Board of Education of the School District of Philadelphia.
Before I make a motion on the resolution, on April 1st our Mayor Cherelle Parker announced her choices for the Philadelphia Board of Education by appointing five new people to the nine-member body. Under law, Mayor Parker's selections had to be submitted to the City Council for possible confirmation. Councilmembers take our role in approving the School Board members very seriously. My members have heard from traditional public school supporters, parents, charter school supporters, educators and community leaders since April 1st on all the School Board nominees before confirming any member of the School Board. Philadelphia City Council last week approved the appointments of Crystal Cubbage, Sarah-Ashley Andrews, Joan Stern, Reginald Streater, Wanda Novales, Whitney Jones, ChauWing Lam and Cheryl Harper to the Board of Education of the School District of 4/29/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. Philadelphia. The new members of the Board are Ms. Cubbage, Harper, Novales, Stern and Mr. Jones. The three people re-appointed to the Board and confirmed by Council are current Board Chairman Streater, Ms. Andrews and Lam. Councilmembers are looking forward to the confirmed Board members taking office on May 1st to start four-year terms. The Board of Education is the governing body responsible for overseeing all policies and budgetary decisions of the School District of Philadelphia. It also serves as the authorizer for all charter schools in Philadelphia. The Board comprises nine Board members who are appointed by the Mayor and confirmed by City Council. The members of Philadelphia City Council, the majority have had serious concerns over the nomination of Joyce Wilkerson to the Board of Education since it was announced several weeks ago. Those concerns have come from a variety of people and not just people who support charter schools. The narrative being portrayed in the 4/29/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. media that charter supporters were the only ones against Ms. Wilkerson's nomination is false. In the past couple of weeks, Councilmembers have informed Parker officials numerous times over the past few weeks about those concerns. I will not make those concerns public out of respect of Ms. Wilkerson. Our talks have been in private with the Administration about Ms. Wilkerson's nomination with the hope of reaching a solution and finding a way to approve this nomination. After discussions with Council's leadership team and individual members, it's very clear that Ms. Wilkerson does not have the necessary nine votes for Councilmembers for confirmation to the School Board. The Council's leadership team has also come to the consensus that despite the flurry of phone calls, emails and other communications with Councilmembers about Ms. Wilkerson's nomination, I do not see the nomination getting the votes of nine members either today or in the immediate future. Out of respect for Ms. Wilkerson and her service to our City, I'm withdrawing Resolution No. 240261 from consideration. As a prime sponsor of the 4/29/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. resolution, I have the right under the Council rules to withdraw nomination. I want to thank Ms. Wilkinson for her extensive career and public service serving as the former SRC Chairwoman as well as a member of the current School Board. I want to also thank Minority Whip and Education Chair Isaiah Thomas for his steadfast work and advocacy for the students here in the City of Philadelphia. As members of the Council, we are an independent body. And we have taken our due diligence and our opportunity to review all pieces of legislation that come to this body for confirmation as well as the current nominations that were in front of us for review. We are looking forward to receiving a name of a new nominee for the School Board of Philadelphia from the Parker Administration as soon as possible.
We will continue working with the Mayor's Administration to make sure that all young people and all students in the City of Philadelphia receive a quality education. At this time, the Chair recognizes Councilwoman Gilmore Richardson for a motion on Resolution No. 240261. 4/29/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I move that Resolution 240261 be withdrawn. (Duly seconded.)
Thank you, Mr. President. Thank you, Majority Leader. Thank you, Chair of Education. My position on public charters is clear. I've fought for good schools throughout my District and stood beside my colleagues in cases where we have disagreed with the Board, but I am here to say this morning that I trust my Mayor and I trust her leadership. And I think that if you're asking her to cook the meal, she should be allowed to buy the groceries. And if you remember, I asked some of the hardest questions in here as it relates to the existing Board. I asked them in the past, have you been slightly askew against charter schools. And that was a nebulous answer. But clearly, the record suggests that it is. 4/29/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. I stand where I stand. However, the process that we have today I'm concerned that we are barely past 100 days of this new Administration and we're not allowing the Mayor to have the benefit of the doubt to be able to say, you know what, if you don't trust that Board, trust me. And I just feel that we should -- if it were some other Mayor, I've been here long enough to know that we tend to do that. We tend to on the first year err on the side of the judgment of the newly-elected Mayor. And I do not understand why we can't proceed that way today. (Applause.)
And this is -- I want to say that I respect the work of my members. I know for a fact you pay particular laser attention to this issue. Stood with you in public about some of the failures in my mind of fairness. However, however, if we are going to make a vote on this, I move that we have a roll 4/29/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. call vote. (Applause.)
There's a question on the floor. The Chair recognizes Councilwoman Gilmore Richardson for a motion on Bill No. 240261 to be withdrawn -- is there a second for a roll call vote?
All those in favor will signify by saying aye. (Aye.)
Nays have it. I call for the question. Chair recognizes Councilwoman Katherine Gilmore Richardson.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I move that Resolution No. 22 240261 be withdrawn.
All those in favor will signify by saying aye. 4/29/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. (Aye.)
Two nays. Councilman Curtis Jones, Councilmember Jeffrey Jay Young. The Chair notes that Councilmember Thomas seconds the motion. It has been moved and properly seconded that Resolution No. 240261 be withdrawn. This concludes the meeting of the Committee of the Whole to consider Resolution No. 13 240261. (Next hearing immediately followed.)
We are now on a public hearing. Ms. Loughead, will you please read the resolutions and bills before us? Before we move forward, Ms. Loughead, will you confirm that quorum is present?
Present. Thank you all. Quorum of the committee is present, and this meeting is now called to order. Ms. Loughead, will you please read the title of the resolutions and bills before us today?
Bill number 240179: An ordinance to adopt the operating budget for fiscal year 2025. Bill number 240180: An ordinance 17 amending Chapter 19-1800 of the Philadelphia Code entitled School Tax Authorization to provide for an increase in the tax that the Board of Education of the School District of Philadelphia is authorized to impose on real estate. And amending Chapter 19-1300 entitled Real Estate Taxes to establish an equivalent reduction in the tax rate for the city real estate tax and making technical changes, all 4/29/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. under certain terms and conditions. Bill number 240181: An ordinance to adopt the fiscal year 2025 capital budget. Bill 5 number 240182: An ordinance to adopt a capital program for the six fiscal years 2025 through 2030, inclusive. Resolution number 240193 providing for the approval by the Council of the City of Philadelphia of a revised five-year financial plan for the City of Philadelphia covering fiscal years 2025 through 2029 and incorporating revisions with respect to fiscal year 2024, which is to be submitted by the mayor to the Pennsylvania Intergovernmental Cooperation Authority pursuant to an intergovernmental cooperation agreement by and between the city and the authority.
Ms. Loughead, will you please call the first witness for public testimony?
The first person to testify from the administration is James Aros Jr., chief assessment officer.
Good 4/29/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. morning. How are you doing today?
Just state your name and title for the record and please begin your testimony.
Thank you. Good afternoon, President Johnson and members of city council. , and I am the chief assessment officer for the Office of Property Assessment. Joining me today here at the table to my left is Monica Williams, OPA's deputy chief assessment officer. And also with us are Maria Holmes, OPA's administrative services director, Drew Aldinger, chief deputy city solicitor, and other members of OPA's senior staff. I am pleased to provide testimony on the Office of Property Assessment's fiscal year 2025 operating budget. The proposed fiscal year 2025 general fund budget totals 18,310,182, which is level with fiscal year 2024 estimated 4/29/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. obligation levels. For tax year 2025 OPA is completing a revaluation of the entire city. This is the first comprehensive revaluation since tax year 2023. As the values are finalized in the coming weeks, OPA will be providing council with reports detailing the impact of the reevaluation on the assessments of the various classes of property in the city. OPA will be available to meet individually with council members to review and discuss in detail the results of the revaluation. As part of the tax year 2025 revaluation process, OPA will retain an outside firm to evaluate how the tax year '25 revaluation of properties in Philadelphia measures against industry standards for key mass appraisal statistics. Specifically, OPA will be evaluated using the coefficient of dispersion or COD, which measures the uniformity of assessments; the price related differential or PRD which measures equity in high versus low value properties; and median ratio, which measures how closely assessments compare to actual sale prices. 4/29/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. For tax year '23, OPA had retained the International Association of Assessing Officers or IAAO to perform this analysis as well as make recommendations for future improvements. The report issued by the IAAO found that OPA met industry standards for COD, PRD, and median ratio. For fiscal year 2025, OPA will continue to work on implementing the recommendations of the tax year '23 IAAO audit and will work towards achieving the IAAO's Certificate of Excellence in Assessment Administration or CEAA. The CEAA is awarded to jurisdictions that successfully integrate the best assessment practices. The IAAO audit provides OPA with a road map towards achieving this designation, and includes recommendations for internal business processes and data quality initiatives. OPA has implemented several of the audit's recommendations, including the development of a regular cycle for property inspections in accordance with industry standards and the development of a central repository for training and policy documents that is accessible 4/29/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. to the entire staff. In fiscal year '25, OPA will continue to work to maintain a staffing complement in accordance with industry recommendations, fill vacancies for evaluators and clerical staff with qualified applicants at both the entry and experience levels as needed, and work to fill current and pending vacancies in senior staff positions caused by attrition in the department. As part of this effort, OPA will continue to work with OHR to increase the size and ensure diversity in OPA's candidate pool for evaluation positions and will continue to work with OHR on recruitment for specialized positions. In fiscal year '23 and '24, OPA and OHR succeeded in nearly doubling the pool of qualified applicants for promotional exams by allowing candidates to substitute experience on the job for a college degree. OPA will continue to increase the number of training and professional development opportunities for employees to ensure the department can develop future leaders in the industry. 4/29/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC.
In 2021, OPA began meeting with Community Legal services, the Reinvestment Fund, and the Center for Economic Policy Analysis to discuss issues around the fairness of assessments in Philadelphia. The efforts of this working group culminated last week when Mayor Parker announced a partnership with these groups, creating the Philadelphia Residential Property Assessment Task Force, accompanying the release of the report entitled Examining the Accuracy, Uniformity, and Equity of Philadelphia's 2023 real estate tax assessments. This report confirmed that while performance measures related to residential assessments have steadily and significantly improved in recent years, there's still room for improvement. OPA's involvement in this task force affirms the commitment of this department and this administration in ensuring the uniformity, equity, and accuracy of assessments and the assessment process. The rest of my testimony has been submitted in writing. I thank you for the 4/29/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. opportunity to testify here today, and I'm here to answer any questions that the council may have.
Thank you very much. Just a couple questions I guess I want to kind of frame. Your position first and foremost, your position is a nominated position, correct?
Yes. Well, appointed by the mayor, nominated to Council for confirmation. Yes.
Nominated to Council for this body to vote and confirm you to be in your position, correct?
I, I stepped in as interim chief assessment officer in January of 2020. I was confirmed by Council in February of 2021 for a permanent appointment to that position.
2021. Have you been confirmed currently under this new body 4/29/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC.
So currently you're working on an expired position. Is that correct?
I'm, I'm, I'm working at the at the leisure of the mayor at this point.
Okay. But technically, in terms of this body being deliberate and confirming you to be official in the position, you currently aren't confirmed?
-- of the mayor. Have they given you any reason why you wouldn't be introduced for a confirmation from this independent legislative body?
There was a resolution 4/29/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. introduced earlier in this session, and it was tentatively scheduled, and I, I believe there were discussions with Council staff and the mayor's office, that they didn't want to rush the process. And we reached out to, or I should say the mayor's office on behalf of the department, reached out to Council offices to schedule meetings. I met with a number of councilmembers one-on-one. A number of council members indicated that they were good, didn't need a meeting. But the, the hearing for that nomination has not been scheduled as of yet.
Based upon 16 your meetings with various councilmembers you 17 know, again, we are a confirming deliberate, 18 independent legislative body. Was anything 19 expressed in any of the meetings as it relates to 20 why members would be willing to support you or 21 concerns regarding supporting you? Because I 22 think this will be just like be a routine 23 confirmation. 24
In none of the nothing in 25 the in the conversations that I had one-on-one 4/29/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. with folks was there any hesitancy or reluctance indicated to me as to wanting to move forward with confirmation. They were all good conversations, and, and if there wasn't a, a verbal, you know, notice of support at the end of that, it was certainly a positive outcome. But I have not been there's no indication that's been given to me by any specific councilmember as to why they would be opposed to the nomination.
Okay. And just the last thing, and I just want to go on the record just so individuals can understand the context on how we're conducting this hearing. And just the last part, any idea of how soon an official resolution will come so we can confirm you?
I would defer to somebody on the mayor's legislative team. That's not that's not something I'm
Above your 4/29/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. pay grade? Okay.
I'm not I, I, I don't I don't have that ability to say what date to put it on, so.
Just wanted to get an idea. That's all. Just for the record because
we are a confirming body, and I just want to want to, you know, make sure that we are clear. The administration sends over legislation and confirmations for us to review, we independently review, we support or not support. And so I just wanted to be clear that although you're doing great work, well, you're doing good work, there still hasn't been a confirmation of your position. I have a question. I know the mayor recently created the Property Assessment Task Force. And bias in property assessment is a critical issue. One of the main things we've always tried to address as a body is making sure there's uniformity in the assessments that are 4/29/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. taking place. Actually, it's my colleague, Councilman Jamie Gauthier, who kind of actually led that effort during the previous administration to, kind, of show that the assessments that came out in key parts of her district and other parts of districts across the city, the valuations were higher, the assessments were higher than other parts and particularly in black and brown neighborhoods. So we know the task force has been created right now. What are we doing to ensure this year's evaluations are accurate and fair while we wait for the recommendations from the task force? And what are we going to be doing to provide relief from homeowners who are most heavily impacted? And last, when is the timeline of the task force?
So let me start from the back. The, the task force that it's OPA is part of it, but it's not OPA led. It's going to be chaired by Ira Goldstein, who is with the Reinvestment Fund. But the mayor has agreed to it, and, and it's coming under the city's 4/29/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. auspices. But I can't speak to a specific timeline of that. We're part of it, but we're not the, the driving force behind that as far as, you know, making those determinations as to when it starts. The, the relief measures, I would defer to the director of finance if there is anything on that. But to go back to your original question, what are we doing? So we have a process each time we do a reevaluation that's that looks at what values are coming out. And there is we do mass appraisal because we're doing 580,000 properties. So statistical modeling projects values for most of the properties in the city. And then there's a review process where the evaluation staff can go, if need be, one-on- one through the properties and sort of see where values make sense, where maybe values might not make sense, is there a data issue that needs to get cleaned up? So that's all standard procedure, and that's all going on right now. We do know, you 4/29/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. know, certain parts of the city that traditionally have not been some statistical measures are not as good as others. So we do have a focus on that. There is, I would say, a limitation to some extent on our side to how much a certain part of the city could improve in one particular year because there's a lot of what drives the market is out of OPA's control. So I, I know, for instance, as an example, folks I'm sure everybody here has seen the reports and, and know Mayor Parker, when she was on Council, led the Appraisal Bias Task Force for you know, outside. But you have some neighborhoods where somebody might be able to sell their property and get a loan at a certain value, and then their neighbor a couple doors down gets an appraiser who maybe doesn't know the area for whatever reason, won't, won't put a value on it, so they can't get a note or get a mortgage, but so their property might sell for a lot less. And then you have two homes that are essentially the same, but sold for different 4/29/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. price. And depending on how high or low the value of that real estate is, you know, if you're talking homes that are 100,000 or less, if it's $20,000, for some people that's a drop in the bucket. But at a percentage wise, that's a huge percentage when you're talking about an $80,000 versus $100,000 value, for instance. So we're trying to identify and look at that stuff where we can see it. That's not stuff we can fix, but certainly as we look at the equity and assessments, we want to make sure that our data is as accurate as possible and that we're trying to reflect the market as best we can. And, you know, the in some areas it's easier than others. And also the diversity in the housing stock in certain areas makes it more difficult. If you have blocks and blocks of homes in the same condition, same age, same style, that sell for relatively same amount of prices, it makes it a lot easier to put an assessment on that property than when the market maybe doesn't reflect quite or the market, I should say, is a little more sporadic. 4/29/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. And certain parts of the city, you know, we want to have anywhere, but you want a certain number of observations or sales to be able to feel confident in the value. And areas where there are more sales, the model will have a higher level of confidence because there is repeated observations that help drive the confidence. In other areas we have to we still have to evaluate, but if there aren't as many sales, there is potentially a lower level of confidence that we would have in the value because there is not as many transactions.
And last question. Walk me through the timeline for the tax year FY '25. Give me an idea about the evaluation process, reevaluation process, when the notices are going to be going out. And probably Councilman Squilla's probably number issue, how we're addressing first level reviews, when they're going to go out. How many have we completed thus far to kind of give people some reprieve in terms of how we're going into the new year? 4/29/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC.
All right. Let me break that up. And keep, keep me honest if I forget something. So for
Timeline for '25 is we're in we're in the final stages of, of our quality control review now. So timeline wise, we expect to have finalized values in the next few weeks before the end of May, certainly, which as I mentioned in my testimony, you know, they'll be with the administration, they'll be with Council. And, and you know, we'll give Council, you know, some basic information, then more detailed information as needed and also be available. It's not something we've done in a post pandemic world, but for those folks that have been on Council for a while, we used to have an opportunity where we would take a couple hour block and just kind of come over here and let folks walk in and out as they could or set up individual meetings to talk about what they're it may look like in their district. 4/29/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. And we're just we're going to be available for that, you know, certainly this time around. Notice mailing is likely to be early June.
Yes. With in mind that we certainly want to be able to give both the mayor's office and Council some time ahead of the mailing to
put that out there. I know last time around it was within a very short period of time. Like notices hit the web the, the day of; of some stuff, and we want to have some time, you know, in between then so that way we can have any conversations or, or discussions prior to the notices hitting the street. I believe that covers the '25 timeline for the most part. But for the FLRs, that FLR goes out with the assessment notice. So folks will when they get their assessment notice, 4/29/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. the form to file an FLR will be with it.
And that, that date, I, I don't have a date for you now because we don't know the mailing date, but we will probably look say, in early June, mailing we'll likely have I know last time around there was a gap between posting and mailing. That's not going to be the issue this time.
We made sure we procured the supplies well in advance, but we likely still will have an extended FLR application period than typical. Realizing that last time wasn't typical and we extended at Council's request, but we would probably be looking at a, a three-month window, give or take, for folks to file FLRs when normally it's five to six weeks. So we're kind of doubling the normal time so folks would have a September deadline to file for an FLR.
Last quick question. I know I said last question again, but 4/29/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. just for member Dubow, chief financial officer for the city of Philadelphia. Just real quick, Rob, what type of relief is any relief baked into this budgetary request? I know last year we, we advocated for Homestead Exemption. Actually, it was my bill, Homestead Exemption that went from we negotiated from 100 to 80 percent. Is that part of this process in the mayor's proposed FY '25 budget, Rob, some level of relief for families?
Yes. So Rob Dubow, the, the city's finance director. As I think everyone in the body knows, we have an extensive package of relief programs like the Homestead, we have LOOP, we have Senior Freeze. But we are committed to talking about additional relief as part of this process.
Okay. And, and who knows, based upon what's been used in the past, right, and not used, we'll kind of still get to evaluate from that aspect, just making sure there's some level of relief, so.
Yes. Thank 4/29/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. you, Rob. The chair recognizes Councilmember Jamie Gauthier. JAMIE GAUTHIER: First of all, Council President, I have a bill for that. I'm hopeful we, we can consider it favorably.
Thank you so much for referencing the Reinvestment Fund report. The report quantifiably verifies something that I've seen since 2022. And I'm sure I'm not the only one in this body that has seen this, which is that OPA's practices and assessments led to a racial and economic bias in the 2023 reassessment, which led to a higher tax burden on lower and moderate income homeowners. And while data quality is improving overall across the city, my district is one that includes many predominantly black areas with higher assessment higher assessment ratios, more variability, and considerable regressivity. And, you know, even before we saw the results of the report, what was proven was being borne out 4/29/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. in terms of calls to our office. We received hundreds of calls from families in our community who were struggling with paying their tax bill after the 2023 reassessment. And I'm appreciative that the task, task force has been put together. I look forward to see what changes we're going to make because when we're talking about a racial and economic bias in our property tax assessment process, what we're really talking about is displacing our residents. We're talking about the city displacing our own residents, which is an outcome that I don't think we that I don't think we want and I don't think we desire. And so I am very challenged by how we would go forward with 2025 assessments this spring and summer when we've not this task force hasn't even convened. We don't know what we're going to do differently. Why in the world would we and we're very far behind on appeals from the last reassessment process. How in the world are we equipped to reassess again for 2025, given all that we know about the inequity and the 4/29/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. unfairness present within our model?
So a couple things there. I would say that, as I as I said in my testimony, the report indicated there is still parts of the city where there is progress that needs to be made. But it also recognized that there has been steady progress with each reassessment as we've gone on. So I think the idea of doing a reassessment since we've seen progress with each reassessment, that that would you know, those numbers will improve with the one that we're currently working on. What they what they look like in the end, I won't speculate as to now, but as we were with, with '23 and with '25, OPA was willing to open the books and provide all the information. So, you know, we know we're not the ones that are going to look through, through that lens, but we'll help you do it and you can write a report and come to whatever conclusions that, that you can come up with. I would also say that the report itself has a number of recommendations. One of them was 4/29/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. not pausing reassessments. So I think, and I don't want to speak for them because I don't know that this is explicitly said in the report. I think they recognize progress in that one of the ways to, to keep the ball rolling is to keep doing reevaluations as we're able to. And one reason why you would not want to pause a reevaluation is that as the market changes and moves, some of those inequities could potentially be exacerbated and made larger. And if there's a revaluation could make it more equitable, now you're having somebody that maybe is in the portion where they say, "Hey, it's not exactly what it should be." They have to keep waiting longer for the chance of an equitable reassessment. And that's not to say that, you know, the next revaluation will, you know, fix every problem or, or solve every issue that, that may be associated with it, but you have to keep moving forward. And I think that's kind of where we are now. It's we there are processes that were reflected for the first time in the 2023 4/29/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. revaluation that we instituted several years prior to that, such as our, our dedicated sales validation unit and some data some data collection processes that we improved. That it's not like that would just be a one-time benefit to the process. So when we do sales validation, it's year after year after year. And when we do a reassessment for a city the size of Philadelphia, we need usually at least five to six years of observation citywide to have to feel we have a level of comfortability with the model that it's going to be reliable enough. So when we started the sales validation unit as a as a result of the recommendations that came from the Council 2019 audit and, and another audit that we had commissioned at the time, that was implemented and was we saw some of those results as the numbers improved for 2023. But some of the older sales done in a different way were still in there. As we've gotten forward, those older years age out and we have more data and more sales done under what is, kind of, universally 4/29/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. recognized as a better process than it was before. So that right there, it's doing things the same way, but because there's more of the new data, if you want to call it that, it should improve the it should improve the valuation process and improve the values. Is that going to fix everything? Maybe not. But I think moving forward we're going to have continuous improvement, and there's not necessarily a time where we could stop and say, "Okay. Everything is fixed." We, we can do them now. I think it has to be a continuous cycle, keeping mindful that there may be issues that we want to try to catch in certain parts of the city.
I appreciate that the Reinvestment Fund didn't make the recommendation to pause. They're great partners. I respect their expertise and all the hard work they put into research and data analysis, but they don't run the city. And so we've known for a very long time that these racial biases are present in the property assessment process. It's a longstanding 4/29/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. issue that, as, as, you know, recently as two years ago with the last assessment, popped up all over the city. In my district, people's assessment went up on average by 50 percent. In neighborhoods across the city, we're seeing numbers like 200 percent or 300 percent. And the report quantified that we have a big problem and if we keep piling on it on top of it and piling on top of it, we're putting people's generational wealth at risk and we're putting family stability at risk in the midst of a housing crisis. And so while I appreciate that the report was, was undertaken after much advocacy from Council, while I appreciate that the task force will be moving forward soon, going ahead with another reassessment process before we even have understand how we're changing our process, makes me question the seriousness of tackling this issue. And also I find it incongruent with the goal of economic opportunity for all. Thank you.
4/29/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. Thank you. Thank you so much, Councilmember Gauthier. The chair now recognizes Councilmember Jones.
Thank you, Madam and Chair. So there -- how first question. What is the amount of taxable properties within the City of Philadelphia? What is their estimated worth?
Fully? So taxable value or properties that are 100 percent taxable? Because we have some hybrid that are partially exempt, partially taxable. I have -- I have a total value of taxable valuation for the city
Unless if you would like me to read that into the record. But it's not that's not just properties that are 100 percent taxable. That includes properties that have a portion of an exemption.
Sure. I have those numbers. 4/29/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC.
Second question I have is that, did I understand member Gauthier's question that there is a study to show what the impacts are on low income or black and brown communities in this valuation that we do and how it's impacting these neighborhoods?
Yes. So for your first question, certified numbers for tax year 2024 citywide assessment is approximately $208.8 billion. Taxable portions of that are 38.4 billion taxable land assessment, 116.7 billion taxable building.
And so we have two ways of rectifying or justifying revenues or increases in revenues. I remember this from you. So it's millage, correct? We can adjust the millage rate or we can look at the assessment rate. Is that correct?
Mostly. So those two are correct. And you can also provide relief measures and that will also have an impact on what the revenues are.
So, no, I'm talking about how we if you want to turn up 4/29/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. the thermostat on revenue, you have millage increases or what we've been doing under the guise of being fair, is to assess the average value of properties. Correct?
So to see an increase, we would deal with the millage. What happens is as we do the reevaluation. The property values have gone up from when you were sitting in that chair, I think it was 1.25 billion to now 200 billion. Is that correct?
The worth the worth of the properties, the assessments.
So I think what's changed since, if you're talking about, like, 2008, 2009 4/29/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC.
So the values went up a lot because before we were only using fractional, but we were only taking a fraction of the value into our assessment. So if a property was valued at $100,000, we were assessing it at 32,000, I think was the was the ratio. And
And then the millage rate came down. So looking at the assessed value back then compared to now, it doesn't really give you a sense of what it meant for revenue because we lowered the millage rate to compensate for the first 4/29/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC.
So to the second part. Has there been an assessment that shows how these valuations, how these millage adjustments impact districts like the third district?
So not millage adjustments. There was there was a study on assessments that was released on Friday that
we can we can if you need it, if you haven't had a chance to read it, we can certainly, you know, get over to you. It, it, it said, you know as I've said previously, the report said that as we've been doing reassessments, all measures have gotten better and better over the years. But they their conclusion was there were certain inequities in certain parts of the city. As an independent study, we provided that and we worked with them, but, you know, they were kind of free to draw their own conclusion.
So, so there are certain neighborhoods that have been impacted 4/29/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. negatively, not by, by design, but by virtue of the assessments, negatively? Is that right?
I don't have that in front of me, but we can certainly get that data to you.
I don't know about it, but I know the third district is in there.
Okay. So there is a thing called disparate impact. That means not by your design that this has a negative impact on black and brown people, but by the fact that it does, that we need to take a look at it. And so if you did a study that says in the third district, which is predominantly in those areas, black and brown, or the fourth district or the fifth, that we should pause and take a look at why. What are we doing wrong, right or what needs to change so that there is not a unfair 4/29/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. proportionate impact on these communities? And is there a plan to take a look at that?
So let me back up. So again, it was not OPA that did the study. We assisted with it, as far as data, working with them. So the conclusions that were drawn, we're not debating it, but they're, they're not OPA's conclusions either. So it was a completely independent study, just so that's on the record. But there were obviously a number of things in the report that we would, you know, agree with, or there were some things from a perspective of things that we could do differently citywide that we I think there's about six recommendations specifically. One of
One of them was create this task force. And the mayor said, "Absolutely, let's do it," and boom. So that was right off the start. There are some more recommendations about when we complete the assessments, about publishing certain data sets or results of the 4/29/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. model in a different way than we have before. So we're taking that into consideration, and that's something we're looking at possibly doing for 2025. And there was also there was one there was one or two specifically that we would disagree with or we felt would not be legal for OPA to do. But I think for the most part, most of the recommendations are stuff that we would be on board with and we think it you know, we think it makes sense.
So my final point on this, Madam Chair, is if there are neighborhoods that are also undervalued because you said that we aren't having enough sales in our community, like maybe Winfield, then that sends a signal to speculators that are far away as New York to come in and say, this neighborhood right here is prime to buy and then gentrify. And that's what we have to avoid. That that assessment puts all of us on equal playing field so that if I want to keep my property and go to the bank, I have value. If I want to hold on to my property and these folk that come in 4/29/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. neighborhoods passing out literatures, "Sell your home quickly," that doesn't happen. We depend on you for that.
I would just add that one of the things the report said is that each valuation has gotten better and more accurate so that when we do them, we're actually getting closer to what you're asking about, not, not further away.