Philly controller worried about AVI assessments

Philadelphia’s city controller says he wants a look at the nuts and bolts behind the reassessment of the city’s real estate as part of the Actual Value Initiative.

His office conducted a test on the new assessments, City Controller Alan Butkovitz said, and something just doesn’t compute.

“Although the law says that they are supposed to be within 15 percent of the sales value, and although the city assessors say they are within 15 percent, our findings show are that they are 30 percent off,” Butkovitz said Tuesday.

He’s concerned that the reassessment has too many inaccuracies, which could lead to major problems.

“It puts a big question mark over whether the city is going to pull in the amount of real estate tax revenue that they think they are,” he said. “If your house is valued at 30 percent more than is true, and you make an appeal, you are probably going to win a reduction of your taxes by 30 percent.

“And if that happens by enough people, you are talking about a huge number.”

Mayor Michael Nutter’s office declined to comment on the Butkovitz request.