Executive Summary
For Immediate Release
May 4, 2015
Contact: Brian Dries
215-686-8869
Real Estate Taxes Slide for Second-Consecutive Year
City Controller’s economic report indicates third-quarter collections
are down $24 million from Fiscal Year 2013
PHILADELPHIA – City Controller Alan Butkovitz today released the latest monthly economic report that indicated current third-quarter real estate tax collections are down $24 million from the same period two years ago.
Real estate tax collections for Fiscal Year 2015 third-quarter, for both the City General Fund and the School District of Philadelphia, totaled $981 million. During the same quarter in Fiscal Year 2013 and 2014, collections were just over $1 billion and $991 million, respectively.
With the March 31 filing deadline, the majority of total yearly real estate tax revenues are collected in January through March. About 45 percent of the total collections are provided to the City’s General Fund and 55 percent goes to the School District.
The weaker quarterly revenues are reflective of the overall lower yearly collections compared to prior years. Through nine months of the current fiscal year, collections for the City and School District have totaled almost $1.1 billion, which is $11 million less than last year and $20 million less than Fiscal Year 2013.
Along reviewing real estate taxes, the Controller’s monthly report showed that home sales in Philadelphia were up 19 percent over March 2014. Current monthly home sales totaled 995 with most of the sales recorded in neighborhoods throughout South Philadelphia and sections of the Lower Northeast.
In addition, Philadelphia’s unemployment rate has decreased from 8.8 percent in March 2014 to 7.1 percent for March 2015.
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