The Crosstown Coalition's restructured Tax & Finance Committee began working the 2018 summer on its response to the 2019 property reassessments issued earlier this year by the City's Office of Property Assessment (OPA).  As many of you are aware, this recent round of real estate valuations by the OPA resulted in substantially increased assessments for many properties throughout Philadelphia.  That, in turn, will result in higher real estate tax bills for many homeowners in 2019, and may disproportionally impact seniors and working families on fixed incomes.

 

Through its initial work, the Tax & Finance Committee learned that City Council commissioned an audit of OPA that likely will be delivered in either September or October of this year.  Furthermore, the Tax & Finance Committee learned of legislation that was passed in 2013 (Bill No. 130308-A) in connection with AVI that essentially allowed any taxpayer who appealed his or her reassessment to the BRT to avoid paying interest and penalties on his or her real estate taxes during the appeal process, provided that the taxpayer timely paid an amount of real estate taxes in the current tax year equal to what he or she was required to pay the prior year before the reassessment.