You know, it’s so funny when the Inky mentions that property taxes have been the 3rd rail of Philly politics–something I’ve been saying for at least 5 years. It’s partly why we have a property tax delinquency crisis. AVI is not a new idea. The Street Administration started FVI (Full Value Initiative), back in 2004/2005 which caused an uproar and made page one even back then.
Of course, City Council has to have it’s budget finished and set in stone before they go into summer recess. It’s the last item of business before their vacation begins. Meanwhile, state lawmakers are hopping mad that they can’t seem to get much information out of Council. I can’t see why they should be mad, since OPA told everyone that they won’t have assessments finished until very late August when homeowners get their new assessments in the mail.
So what if the School District smells the $94MM in money and is begging, kicking and screaming for all of it? To put it mildly, they’re a fucked agency. Arlene Ackerman cemented the PSD’s fiscal ruin, and it’s absolutely laughable that Paul Vallas was poo-poo’d for his budget deficit which is a mere fraction of what Ackerman left the City with when she was given a $900K golden parachute to leave.
Even with the $94MM in estimated revenue from AVI, the PSD will still be slashing and burning most of its internal structures and leaving many carcasses of abandoned school buildings in its wake.
Maybe Harrisburg will pay more attention to the Philadelphia School District if it defaults on its bond payments to creditors?
The state has been running the school district for well over a decade now. And at the end of the day: the state is responsible for that mess, not the City.