Mayor Nutter Defends City's New Property Tax Assessments
By Mike Dunn
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- Some elected officials in Philadelphia say the new citywide property assessments are full of inaccuracies, but today Mayor Nutter strongly defended the figures.
In recent days both city controller Alan Butkovitz and councilman Mark Squilla have claimed that inaccuracies in the AVI assessments exceed the industry-accepted margin of error. But Mayor Nutter begs to differ.
"Some of the information that the controller has put out is just inaccurate and wrong," the mayor said today. "I think it is unfortunate if it is being done in an effort to just scare the hell out of people."
Nutter was then asked if elected officials might bash AVI simply for political gain.
"I don't know any that would be that irresponsible," he replied.
In a letter this week to the mayor, Controller Butkovitz claimed the error rate of the assessments was on the order of 30 percent, compared to the Nutter administration's claim of just under 14 percent (see related stories).
Meantime, the mayor has announced a series of community meetings on AVI this month, with the first two scheduled for tomorrow evening at the American Heritage Federal Credit Union, 2060 Red Lion Road (6-9pm) and at the Joseph Coleman Library, 68 West Chelten Avenue (6-9pm).
The third meeting will be held Saturday, March 9th, at Neumann-Goretti Catholic High School, 1736 South 10th Street, (10am-5pm).
For more information, go to the city's web site, www.phila.gov/opa, or call 215-686-9200.
