Testimony:
President and CEO Zack Stalberg recently testified in Philadelphia City Council on proposed legislation to dramatically overhaul the BRT, which has been plagued by allegations of mismanagement and ethical abuses.
Read Download the Tesitmony here: Testimony to City Council Committee of the Whole on reform of the Board of Revision of Taxes (10/27/09) (PDF)
PRESS RELEASEs
Committee of Seventy Urges Urgent Action to Abolish the BRT
Committee of Seventy Reiterates Call for Removing BRT Employees from School District Payroll
RECOMMENDATIONS
Permanent Reforms
Committee of Seventy urges the Nutter administration and City Council to incorporate the following recommendations – several of which expand on those offered by the Mayor – into its permanent reform plan:
* Dissolve the current BRT.
* Transfer the 78 BRT employees currently housed at, and funded by, the School District of Philadelphia to the city’s payroll.
* Separate the assessment and appeals functions, which currently are both performed by the BRT.
* Move the
property assessments functions to the city’s Finance Department.
- All administrative staff, and property assessors (including the Chief Assessor) should be selected according to the requirements of the city’s merit-based civil service system.
- All property assessors (including the Chief Assessor) must possess qualifications that meet published, objective and current standards of their profession.
- All exempt employees must meet published, objective qualifications to perform the jobs to which they are assigned. The selection of all exempt employees should be made without regard to political connections or support.
* Move the
property assessment appeals functions to a newly constituted and renamed Board or Commission.
- All administrative staff should be selected according to the requirements of the city’s merit-based civil service system.
- All members of the new Board or Commission must meet the highest standards for ethics, integrity and character, as well as published, objective qualifications to perform the job to which they are assigned, without regard to political connections or support.
- The selection of members of the Board or Commission should be removed from the Board of Judges.
- The method of selecting members of the new Board or Commission should be designed to remove political patronage to the greatest extent possible.
- There should be fixed and staggered terms for all new Board or Commission members.
* Require all personnel involved in the property assessments and appeals processes – including civil service and exempt employees – to be current in their payment of city taxes. Any employee who owes back taxes should be subject to new city rules regarding garnishment of wages unless the debt is settled or a repayment plan is entered into.
* Establish a new and fair system for assessing property and commercial properties that is based upon accurate and reliable underlying information. The credibility of the information must be assured by independent experts in the profession. These corrections are necessary regardless of the method ultimately decided upon to produce equitable and uniform property assessments and market values.
Short Term Improvements
Below are short-term improvements to enhance trust in the BRT during the interim period before permanent reforms are enacted. A few recommendations – some of which Seventy presented in May 2009 – impose more restrictions on BRT employees than on other city workers.
Filling the vacant seat on the BRT: At its next meeting, the Board of Judges should select as a BRT member an individual who meets the highest standards for ethics, integrity and character, as well as published, objective qualifications to perform the job, without regard to political connections or support.
Selecting a new Executive Director: The BRT should promptly select an Executive Director who meets the highest standards for ethics, integrity and character, as well as published, objective qualifications to perform the job, without regard to political connections or support. The individual selected should have no past connection with the current BRT.
Pledging not to hire people for political reasons: This policy should apply to all individuals in a position to make hiring decisions, including BRT members, the agency’s executive leadership and the Board of Judges.
Ending secret deals to politically-connected residential and commercial property owners: This expectation should be communicated to all personnel – including property assessors – and strictly enforced.
Establishing a strict conflicts-of-interest policy: All BRT employees holding second jobs should register the name of their employer and their job description with the Philadelphia Board of Ethics. No employee should participate in any BRT matter where real or perceived conflicts with their non-BRT duties or relationships exist.
Making the names and backgrounds of all BRT employees available online: This will promote transparency about an agency the public knows little about.
Correcting faulty information that underlies current property tax assessments: Even in this interim era, the BRT has to seek the assistance of independent experts to fix the glaring mistakes that continue to create inaccuracies in property assessments. As discussed in the “permanent reforms” section of this document, moving to a new and fair system for assessing residential and commercial properties should await the transfer of the property assessment process to the Finance Department.