PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — The city’s new property tax assessments went online on Monday. Questions and complaints started rolling in almost immediately.
These are the first new assessments in three years, and property values have been climbing, so increases were anticipated. But at the budget hearing for the Office of Property Assessment, Councilmember Mark Squilla said some defy expectations.
“We’re already getting inundated, and we’re going to get more and more as people now go online to look at their assessments,” Squilla said.
“We have received emails from one constituent whose property value assessment went from $70,000 to $560,000 — which, as you can imagine, would be a shock.”
The average increase, citywide, was 31%, but increases vary widely from house to house. Squilla said his office estimates that at least 100,000 properties increased by more than 50%.
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Land values are especially whimsical. On a single block in West Philadelphia, land values of four adjacent row homes alternate between $76,000 and $33,000.
Chief assessor A.J. Aros defended the new numbers, saying the city used a new formula this year.
“We’re using the best data we have available as of the time we’re doing these assessments.,” he said. “We start with the overall value, then allocate 20% of the value to the land for residential properties.”
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The effect is that homes that have been improved now have a higher land value than the identical lot next door.
Property owners can search for their assessments by entering their address into a form on the city’s website. Aros says the city expects about 20% of property owners to file an appeal, but property owners cannot start that process until the assessments are mailed out, which Aros says won’t be until September because the city’s vendor has a supply chain issue — not enough envelopes.