The new real estate assessments that residents will receive next month will include a form on how to ask for a review of the number.
Submitting the form will trigger a “review with the assessor who did the property, or, if that person is gone, then the new assessor who is handling that area,” Mayor Michael Nutter’s spokesman Mark McDonald said in an e-mail to the Northeast Times. “This is a newly formalized process.”
Councilman Brian O’Neill (R-10th dist.) advised anyone who wants to appeal to do it soon.
“If you feel you’ve been assessed too high, act quickly, ask for help,” the councilman said in a Jan. 2 interview in his district office at Bustleton Avenue and Bowler Street. He said his staff would help residents with their assessment questions.
O’Neill said a property owner should pay attention to the new assessment “and ask if this number is fair, because it’s going to stick for a really long time.”
Councilman Bill Green believes many residents won’t like what they see.
“We should expect a significant increase in appeals,” the at-large Democrat stated in an e-mail to the Northeast Times. “The Office of Property Assessment could be completely overwhelmed by the increase and may not have the capacity to handle it.”
Those who want to appeal their assessments would do so through the Bureau of Revision of Taxes. Appeals will be due by early fall, McDonald said. ••
