"I believe in fair taxation. I want schools, libraries, and clean streets. I'm willing to pay for that," said Barbara Benton, whose tax bill on her Kimball Street house will rise 83 percent.
"What I'm not willing to do is pay my share when other people are not paying theirs. I'm not willing to pay three times what my neighbors pay. I'm not willing to pay until they get this thing right, and it doesn't seem like it should be so hard."
The unlucky residents of Kimball Street are among 14,095 property owners who have gotten reassessment letters from the BRT this year; another round of notices is set to be mailed within the next few weeks.
Of the notices sent, only 795 were for properties that the agency said had lost value since last year. The remaining 13,330 had higher assessments, yielding an average residential property-tax increase of $680, which will be due to the city March 31.
All of which is routine. And that, the BRT's many critics contend, is a huge problem. This is no time, they say, for BRT business as usual.
Over the last year, Inquirer reports have exposed mismanagement and potential corruption at the agency, as well as serious inaccuracies and inequalities in the BRT's property-assessment system. The problems are so systemic that Mayor Nutter and City Council are considering dismantling the BRT and assigning its duties to other parts of city government.
Given that, critics argue, property assessments should be frozen until the BRT develops a credible method for judging property values in Philadelphia, or is abolished and replaced with an entity that can better manage the job.
