"Right now, that's not happening."
The $180 million is the difference between what the city expected to collect in property taxes from 2009 to 2014, and what it now thinks it will get.
Although he acknowledged that declining property values had been a factor, Nutter singled out the BRT's alleged sluggishness. Led by seven board members appointed by city judges, the BRT adjusted the values of 18,000 properties last year, just 3 percent of real estate citywide. In 2007, it revalued 400,000 properties, or 69 percent.
The Nutter administration expected a 4.90 percent increase in property-tax collections this fiscal year. It will get only 2.29 percent more.
"It's very difficult to get done the things we need to get done if we're not assessing the proper number of properties," Nutter said.
The BRT says it is doing nothing improper.
In July, board members voted to adopt a new assessment system that they said would lead to more equitable and rational assessments. That transition has occupied the agency's staff and limited its reassessements, BRT spokesman Kevin Feeley said.
The agency, he said, is not responsible for meeting city revenue projections.
"They say the revenue targets are off. Well, excuse me," Feeley said. "Revenue ought to be determined by the tax rate, and it is not the BRT's job to be the unofficial tax collector for the city."
In theory, Feeley is correct. In practice, the BRT has acted for decades as a de facto taxing agency.
Unlike municipalities that adjust their millage rates to meet revenue needs and respond to changes in property values, Philadelphia has not touched its millage rate since 1989.
