During her first budget address on March 14, Mayor Cherelle L. Parker indicated that the sheriff's sales of tax-delinquent property will resume soon, ending a stalemate between City Hall and Philadelphia Sheriff Rochelle Bilal. It’s been nearly three years since Bilal has held an auction to sell off the city’s tax-delinquent properties. The pause has cost the city and school district an estimated $35 million in tax revenue, and kept abandoned properties from being redeveloped. Parker said she had been meeting with Bilal, Council President Kenyatta Johnson and city solicitor Renee Garcia. “Together, we all recognize the need to have tax sales up and running,” Parker said. “Today, I am pleased to announce that the Sheriff’s Office is now working with the law department to resolve this issue in the next four weeks, with the goal of the first sale occurring before July 1, 2024.” Auctioning tax-delinquent properties — in many cases, vacant lots and abandoned buildings — is one of the core functions of the sheriff’s office. In-person auctions were initially paused in March 2020 in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Then, in March 2021, Bilal announced a plan to hold virtual sales through an outside company, but the move was found to have violated city contract guidelines and raised legal concerns. Since January 2022 alone, the city has gone to court to secure orders authorizing the sale of roughly 1,330 tax-delinquent properties — but the sales haven’t been executed. Read more in the Inquirer.
Source: Philadelphia Inquirer; 3/14/2024