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Amending Title 2 of The Philadelphia Code, Entitled, "City-County Consolidation," Chapter 2-300, "Property Assessment," by adding new language to Section 2-305, "Office of Property Assessment; Chief Assessment Officer; Powers And Duties," requiring that real estate taxes imposed by Title 19 Of The Philadelphia Code, entitled "Finance, Taxes And Collections," Chapter 19-1300, "Real Estate Taxes," be levied on the assessed value of taxable real property as established for the immediately preceding stated year in any year in which the audit provided for under Subsection 2-305(2)(s) finds that overall property assessments in the City do not meet industry standards for accuracy, all under certain terms and conditions.
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THE COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF PHILADELPHIA HEREBY ORDAINS:
SECTION 1. Legislative Findings:
(1) The City of Philadelphia Office of Property Assessment reassessed all residential properties for tax year 2019, resulting in increases for about 370,000 properties and raising the median value of a single-family home by 10.5 percent.
(2) The Philadelphia Code Subsection 2-305(2)(s) mandates an audit by an independent firm in which the firm will complete a statistical analysis of the performance of the appraisers and the accuracy of the property assessment to ensure a uniform and accurate system of property taxation.
(3) The Philadelphia Code Subsection 2-305(2)(s) audit performed by JF Ryan Associates, Inc., which was selected in accordance with Chapter 17-1400 for the awarding of non-competitively bid contracts, was issued December 3, 2018, and found (among other findings) that, "Overall, property assessments in the City do not meet industry standards for accuracy."
(4) The Office of Property Assessment bases assessments on insufficient and sometimes erroneous data, lacks routine reports to analyze the quality of assessments, and does not adequately explain its methods to the Public.
(5) ...
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