New Philly Property Assessment Came in the Mail? Here's How to Cope with the Sticker Shock.
Here’s what to know about the new assessments — and your options for lowering your tax bills.
by Kasturi Pananjady and Max Marin – Philadelphia Inquirer
Thousands of homeowners in Philadelphia have received notice of their new property assessments in the mail in recent weeks — and the sticker shock is just setting in.
The city first announced its new property assessments — that will be hiking tax bills for many property owners next year — four months ago, but the mailed notices were delayed. If you’re just now learning about your new assessment, rest assured: You’re not alone.
Here’s what to know about the new assessments — and your options for fighting back against unfair increases and lowering your tax bills.
Explain it to me like I’m 5. What’s a property assessment?
The city evaluates the market value of every property in the city, based on what officials think the land and building would sell for in a free market.
This forms the basis for property tax bills. Under the state constitution, all properties are taxed at the same rate — which in Philadelphia is 1.3998% of the assessed value. So if the city thinks your property is worth more than the last time they assessed it, your tax bill typically also goes
up.
Why did I get this assessment notice in the mail?
The new assessments were posted online in May, but homeowners have only just been receiving mailed notices. The city blamed the delay on an envelope shortage.
The city by law has to mail notices to every property owner. The official assessment notice allows residents to begin filing appeals with the Office of Property Assessment (OPA) if they think that their properties were incorrectly assessed.
But be warned: If you want to challenge your assessment, the deadline is fast approaching. We’ll explain more below.
Why did my property assessment go up so much?
These 2023 valuations are the first citywide reassessment in three years, and residential properties are increasing 31% on average citywide.
The city has never conducted regular assessments, let alone annual ones. So instead of seeing constant small increases, many homeowners experience sharp property value increases. The lack of regular assessments has also exacerbated systematic inaccuracies.
How accurate are the assessments? They’re worse in Black and low-income neighborhoods.
The goal of an assessment is to minimize error. When errors do occur in accuracy, they should be distributed equally so no one group of people is unfairly bearing a larger share of the tax burden.
But an Inquirer analysis found that the new assessments were systematically more inaccurate in Black and low-income neighborhoods. Why? In short, bad data, and restrictions that officials say bar them from considering demographics to ensure equity across racial and economic lines
.
OPA said it has committed to conducting more regular assessments to help close these gaps.
How can I lower my tax bill? Start by looking at the homestead exemption.
The city operates a number of tax relief programs designed to lower the tax burden for some homeowners and developers.
The most popular residential tax relief program — called the homestead exemption — is available for all owner-occupied homes and lowers the amount of your taxable value. Next year, that reduction will be $80,000, saving a homeowner about $1,119 on tax bills.
There are other relief programs you might qualify for, such as programs targeted at longtime
homeowners or seniors.
Even with expanded tax relief, your bill will likely go up.
The homestead exemption was significantly expanded by City Council and Mayor Jim Kenney’s administration this past summer to shield homeowners from forthcoming property tax increases.
But most enrolled homeowners will still see an increase in the tax bills, because the increase to the homestead exemption doesn’t fully offset the overall jump in assessments.