Title
Authorizing the Committee on Finance to hold hearings to discuss the progress made by the Office of Property Assessment concerning the assessment and valuation of real property in the City of Philadelphia and to ascertain ways in which the City can continue to improve and build upon these efforts moving forward.
Body
WHEREAS, The Office of Property Assessment ("OPA") is responsible for carrying out all duties of the assessment office of the City of Philadelphia, that being the discovery, listing and valuing of all real property in the City of Philadelphia in a uniform manner; and
WHEREAS, The OPA is also responsible for establishing legal addresses for all parcels, providing a response to real property tax appeal cases, applying real property tax exemptions and administering the Real Property Tax Abatement Program; and
WHEREAS, There are approximately 579,000 parcels of real property in the City of Philadelphia. These include residential, condominium, multi-family, mixed use large apartment complexes, retail, hospitality, office, industrial, warehouse, hospital, government (city, state and federal), religious, exempt, and non-exempt property uses and vacant land; and
WHEREAS, On September 6, 2013, Bill No. 130443-A, also known as the Actual Value Initiative legislation ("AVI"), was enacted, which amended Chapter 2-300 of The Philadelphia Code, entitled "Property Assessment," by further providing for the manner in which assessments are determined; and
WHEREAS, Under AVI, OPA is required to set forth a methodology for the valuation of properties for taxation purposes. The methodology employed shall be made available to the public, including an explanation of the extent to which the methodology employed conforms to nationally recognized assessment standards such as those approved by the International Association of Assessing Officers (IAAO) for mass appraisals of real property; and
WHEREAS, OPA must also make underlying supporting data, d...
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