McKeithen has been in the assessment business for 22 years as both a senior manager and street-level assessor in Washington and the Virginia cities of Hampton and Richmond. He has never worked in Philadelphia.
In June 2008, McKeithen was named director of Washington's Office of Real Property Tax Administration, where he is responsible for overseeing all property assessments and handling numerous other duties he will not have to shoulder in Philadelphia.
By comparison, Enrico Foglia, the last full-time executive director of the BRT, had no management experience, no college degree, and was not licensed to assess properties.
After 19 years on the job, Foglia retired in September at 80. He said he had been under pressure to step down since an Inquirer series last year documented widespread cronyism, mismanagement, and poor assessment practices at the BRT.
Nutter administration officials were making the rounds in City Hall with McKeithen yesterday, but they declined to comment on his pending appointment.
In May's election, Philadelphians voted overwhelmingly to disband the BRT and split it into two new agencies. One office - which will be led by McKeithen, pending Council confirmation - will set property values for every parcel in the city. The vast majority of BRT employees will transfer to that office.
The other agency will be a Board of Property Assessment Appeals, which will hear appeals of values set by the new property-assessment office.
As the chief assessment officer, McKeithen will serve a four-year term, during which he can be fired only for cause, a provision intended to help insulate the new office from political interference.
Given the difficult and sensitive job on his hands, McKeithen may well need that protection.
