Philadelphia Homeowners See Tax Hikes After City's Reassessment

More than half a million properties in Philadelphia faced a new real estate assessment on Friday, reported The Philadelphia Inquirer. 

Philadelphia real estate owners will now get the new values of their properties in a week, but approximately 560,000 values have been posted already on the city's Office of Property Assessment website; but 20,000 still need to be valuated and that's expected to take an additional two weeks.  If property owners deem the value is less than the assessed amount, they can file an appeal.

The good news is that the new assessments were needed to fix "a broken system that unfairly undervalued or over-assessed property values in Philadelphia for decades," said Mayor Michael Nutter in an interview with The Inquirer.

However, the total tax rate has risen in order to balance the measures among the different neighborhoods and homeowners.  For instance the tax increased significantly in popular cities like Fairmont, University City, Southwest Center City and South Philadelphia.

But some neighborhoods including Chestnut Hill, Eastwick and most of the Northeast were spared the increase.

Nutter thinks the overall changes are doable within the 1.20 percent and 1.25 percent market value to get the same tax return next year.

But residents have the option of reevaluating if they register for a "First Level Review" at the Office of Property Assessments or appeal to the Board of Revision of Taxes then appeal to the Court of Common Pleas, according to The Inquirer. That can turn out to be an expensive endeavor, as well.

Mayor Nutter however doesn't see a tax increase; in fact he will be getting a $460 savings for his Wynnefield home, one of the few neighborhoods with little change after the assesments. Nutter said his family will be using the savings to fund students at a school program in one of the Philadelphia school districts.