Title
Authorizing City Council's Committee of the Whole to hold public hearings on the procedures that the City currently employs and proposes to employ to collect delinquent commercial real estate taxes owed the City and School District, the effectiveness or shortcomings of existing and proposed procedures, and the additional measures and resources required to improve the system for collecting delinquent real estate taxes.
Body
WHEREAS, Reports of unpaid taxes from prior years, indicate that 5 % of commercial properties in the City are tax delinquent and account for 15% of the outstanding tax debt leaving substantial unpaid amounts uncollected; and
WHEREAS, City Council members want to ensure that all constituents have access to payment arrangements and that the terms and details of those arrangements are fair, transparent and reasonable, while also balancing the City's need to collect delinquent real estate taxes; and
WHEREAS, The tools and processes used to collect delinquent real estate taxes on commercial properties may be different than those used for other types of delinquent accounts; and
WHEREAS, On February 4, 2013, the City of Philadelphia announced that new delinquent tax collection strategies will be employed to increase collection rates and improve taxpayer confidence in the collections' processes; and
WHEREAS, In anticipation of the forthcoming proposed Operating Budget for FY2014 and the City's move to property assessments based on actual values (known as the Actual Value Initiative), it is critically important for Council and the public to understand clearly the tax collection procedures that are currently in place and any proposed changes to the City's collection strategies, particularly as they relate to commercial real estate taxes; and
WHEREAS, Changes to the processes, procedures and policies employed by the City to collect delinquent taxes, specifically delinquent real estate taxes, should be fully reviewed and vetted...
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