A City Assessor Might Show Up At Your Door Soon

Property evaluators are making their way through Chestnut Hill right now as they work to assess the value of homes and other land parcels throughout the city.

They are doing so because the city is doing a complete reassessment of the roughly 577,000 parcels in Philadelphia. The evaluators have started going neighborhood by neighborhood, and one of the first areas that they've hit is Chestnut Hill.

"This is really important because this has an impact on our education," said Katherine Martin, Mayor Nutter's deputy press secretary. "The school district will see most of the money from property assessments."

Property values throughout the city are largely inaccurate, according to the mayor's office. Comparable homes, therefore, aren't being assessed at the same level, which creates unequal tax burdens among various homeowners.

The reassessment is intended to get rid of those inequalities. Properties will be assessed on an annual basis from now on.

Martin said people should expect the evaluators to come to their doors. They'll ask residents a few questions about the home—nothing personal—and may ask to come inside, although homeowners can decline their request. They will be equipped with government-issued ID badges as well (you can see one at right).

The questions will focus on things like how many bedrooms are in the house, whether there is central air conditioning inside and whether there is major internal damage.

The mayor's office said the values of most properties will go up as a result of the reassessment. There will likely be a tax reduction to make up for the increase in property value (and the resulting increase in property taxes paid by homeowners), but in general, people who have been overassessed will see higher tax bills, while the opposite will be true for those who have been underassessed.

People will have the opportunity to appeal their assessments once they get them. Every property owner is expected to receive one by October 2012.

The process is being conducted by the Office of Property Assessment. It began after voters approved a referendum that created two new agencies to handle the matter.