Nutter: BRT patronage jobs now civil service

Mayor Nutter yesterday said that 76 patronage workers for the Board of Revision of Taxes must become city workers and will have to reapply for their jobs.

"They should be on the city payroll and subject to the same rules and regulations as city employees," Nutter said.

Those employees are currently paid through the school district and may do political work. Most get their jobs through the recommendation of Democratic and Republican elected officials.

Nutter said that they will be brought into the city civil service and will have to take a written test. He would not guarantee that all 76 would keep jobs at the end of the process, which will last several months.

Others could apply for the city BRT jobs, but because the positions would require experience performing real-estate appraisals and assessments for a government agency, it seems unlikely that there will be stiff competition.

The city has made a temporary arrangement with the BRT board to take over the property-assessment functions of the BRT.

Nutter yesterday also appointed Richard Negrin, an attorney who served on the Board of Ethics, as interim director of the BRT.

The issue of the patronage employees has been a hot topic in City Council, as the legislative body works on legislation that would completely overhaul the troubled BRT. That bill was almost held up last week at the committee level due to requests from members that the patronage hires be protected.

The BRT legislation - which, if approved by voters, would create an assessment body under the mayor's supervision and an independent assessment appeals board - is up for final vote on Thursday.

Councilwoman Jannie Blackwell, who tried to halt the bill last week over the patronage hires, yesterday said that she was not happy about Nutter's plans for the patronage hires.

"I think that people should be given their jobs," Blackwell said. "People have a right to be protected. Why couldn't they be grandfathered in?"

According to City Solicitor Shelley Smith, there are no immediate plans to move the six workers in the City Controller's Office who are also on the school district payroll.