The aim was to make the city crack down on tens of thousands of property owners who had become long-term tax delinquents, said Andy Toy, who was instrumental in drafting the legislation as an official in the city's Commerce Department.
"Our intent was to require that properties make their way through the system in a timely fashion, in order to get the properties back on the tax rolls," said Toy, who now works in economic development and has twice run for City Council.
But that push never happened.
Despite the amended law, the city has more delinquencies than it did in 1992. As reported in an Inquirer and PlanPhilly.com series last month, Philadelphia has more tax delinquent properties per parcel than any other big city in the country.
The delinquency epidemic has deprived the city and the School District of $472 million in unpaid taxes, penalties, and interest. In addition, there is the blighting effect that these properties - many abandoned or poorly maintained - have had throughout the city, particularly in low-income neighborhoods.
As of April 30, there were 112,000 past-due properties in Philadelphia. More than 74,000 were two or more years delinquent, and 26,000 were at least a decade in arrears. On average, tax-delinquent properties in Philadelphia are 6.5 years past due.
Toy contends that those long-standing delinquencies show that the city has not followed the law as amended in 1992.
City officials disputed that.
"We do routinely 'proceed on tax claims,' including civil suits in Municipal Court against tax delinquents, with quite limited exceptions," the Nutter administration said in a short statement in response to questions from The Inquirer and PlanPhilly.com.
