Philadelphia, May 26, 2022 – Councilmember David Oh (At-Large) introduced legislation to provide tax relief to homeowners facing spiking property assessments, require the Office of Property Assessment (OPA) to publicize methodologies and formulas before certifying annual assessments, and a charter change proposal authorizing City Council to reject real property assessments whose year-over-year percentage increase exceeds double the national urban consumer price index, which are found by a reputable third-party assessor to be inaccurate.
The introductions come as the Office of Property Assessment’s citywide reassessment resulted in a 31 percent average increase in assessed property values for the City’s more than 400,000 single-family residential properties. Some zip codes – primarily in gentrifying, lower-income neighborhoods–face an average 70-90 percent increase.
Councilmember Oh wants to ensure homeowners see immediate relief in the short term and establish checks and balances to ensure homeowners are not on the hook for assessments that are inaccurate or below industry standards. Specifically, Councilmember’s Oh legislative proposal includes three components:
Homeowners that file taxes early – before the March 31 deadline – will be entitled to a ten percent tax rebate.
OPA is required to provide methodologies and formulas used to calculate property assessments to City Council, the City Controller, and the general public before certifying assessments.
Authorize Council to reject increased assessments if any annual percentage increase in overall real property assessments exceeds twice the United States Bureau of Labor Statistics’ “Consumer Price Index. All Urban Consumers” (CPI-U) percentage change for the same period. If the auditor concludes that the OPA’s assessments
for that year are not as accurate as the previous year’s, Council may reject that year’s assessments and the OPA shall certify the previous year’s assessments for the current year instead.
“The inconsistent and unexplainable assessments continue to raise doubts about the Office of Property Assessment’s methodology and standards,” said Councilmember Oh. “An independent audit authorized by Council in 2018 found OPA to be conducting below industry-standard assessments.”
“My legislative package provides homeowners with immediate relief through an early payment rebate of ten percent, increases transparency by required methodologies to be publicized before certification, and establishes authority for Council to protect homeowners from spiking tax bills that are a result of faulty, below-industry standard assessments.”
Oh is also supportive of additional relief measures–being introduced in City Council, including an expansion of the senior tax freeze and raising the homestead exemption to $90,000.
The legislation will be placed in the appropriate Council Committees for further consideration.
