Authorizing Council's Committee of the Whole to compel the Administration through the issuance of a subpoena as authorized under Section 2-401 of The Philadelphia Home Rule Charter to provide the methodology and sample sets used in performing assessments of real property that are being used as part of the citywide Actual Value Initiative such that the information is reproducible.

WHEREAS, Beginning in 2012 the Office of Property Assessments (OPA) began a citywide reassessment of real property in order to create a tax program that is tied to the actual value of properties; and

WHEREAS, The City is mandated by the Constitution of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania to base real estate taxes on actual market values; and

WHEREAS, In 2012 City Council voted to delay the implementation of the Actual Value Initiative (AVI) until the tax year of 2014 for the purpose of having accurate, real and usable data with which to calculate a millage rate; and

WHEREAS, City Council has requested on multiple occasions specific information about the methodology used by OPA in determining real property values along with explanations of such terms as “coefficient of dispersion” and “multivariate statistical models”; and

WHEREAS, The growing frustration of the citizens of Philadelphia and City Council around the assessed values and corresponding methodology has made the implementation of AVI increasingly complicated and difficult; now, therefore, be it

RESOLVED, BY THE COUNCIL OF CITY OF PHILADELPHIA, That it hereby authorizes Council's Committee of the Whole to compel the Administration through the issuance of a subpoena as authorized under Section 2-401 of The Philadelphia Home Rule Charter to provide the methodology and sample sets used in performing assessments of real property that are being used as part of the citywide Actual Value Initiative such that the information is reproducible.

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