Council bill would slash BRT salaries

The war between Mayor Nutter and the leaders of the Board of Revision of Taxes escalated Thursday with a new City Council bill that would slash the salaries of the part-time board members from $70,000 to $18,700 a year.

The salary reduction could take effect in as few as two weeks, if council acts briskly.

The prospect of that whopping pay cut is perhaps Nutter's biggest bargaining chip in his attempt to rein in what he has called a "rogue board." But the mayor is pursuing other tactics as well.

On Wednesday, his administration seized all non-payroll dollars still left in the property assessment agency's budget, a move that will prevent the board from hiring new workers, approving new contracts or purchasing any supplies without his administration's consent.

Meanwhile, negotiations between Nutter and the BRT picked up on Thursday, though there were no signs that any settlement was imminent.

The source of the dispute is a joint operating agreement signed by both sides last fall. The memorandum of understanding gave the Nutter administration day-to-day control over the troubled agency, while the board itself was relegated to hearing appeals of property assessments.

Nutter had expected the BRT to extend the agreement.

Instead, the agency's board let it lapse Monday, a move that infuriated the mayor and brought an abrupt halt to the administration's attempts to overhaul the city's wildly inaccurate and inequitable property assessment system.

"I'm an optimistic person, but I'm also a realist. I'm going to continue to exert as much pressure on the BRT board members as possible until we get a signed memorandum of understanding so that we can get back to reforming that agency," Nutter said.

Conspicuously missing so far from the public back-and-forth has been city Democratic Committee Chairman and U.S. Rep. Bob Brady.

As chair of the party, Brady played a central role in putting BRT members on the board. The city judges who formally make the appointments have historically given considerable weight to Brady's recommendations.

Last year, following an Inquirer series that documented widespread problems at the BRT, Brady gave his tacit approval to Nutter's plans to reform the agency, which ultimately led to the memorandum of understanding.

Now, though, even members of the board who are closely aligned with Brady are balking at renewing the agreement.

As party chair, Brady has plenty to lose if the BRT is overhauled. During its brief turn at the helm of the agency the Nutter administration began the process of converting patronage workers into civil service employees. Those were jobs that Brady and other city ward leaders have handed out to party activists for decades.

Brady was unavailable Thursday night for comment, said his political consultant Ken Smukler. Smukler this week has downplayed Brady's involvement in the discussions.

BRT chair Charlesretta Meade has also consistently declined to comment, but she did send a letter to the city Thursday that partly explained the board's position.

Her letter said the board welcomed "a resumption of the status quo" that existed before the memorandum of understanding expired on Monday. But the board had "great concerns" about the legality of the agreement, the letter said.

Meade's letter also explicitly invited Richard Negrin - whom Nutter had named as the interim executive director of the BRT - to resume his work. Negrin and Nutter have said that would be "untenable" without a signed agreement guaranteeing that Negrin could operate with independence.

"The one thing the letter made crystal clear is that their current bizarre behavior is all a function of their lawsuit machinations," Nutter said.

The lawsuit Nutter refers to was filed by BRT members against the city in Pennsylvania Supreme Court last month.

The suit is an attempt to halt a May ballot measure that - if approved by voters - would disband the BRT and split its duties between two new entities, effective Oct. 1.

The suit argues that completely dissolving the BRT illegal. It claims the state legislature specifically vested assessment appeals powers with the BRT, and required that the BRT leaders be appointed by the city's judiciary.

Mayor Nutter considers the lawsuit irrelevant to the question of a renewed memorandum of understanding, but the BRT clearly does not.

As they have all week, the seven members of the Board of Revision of Taxes declined to comment Thursday, even though four of them were questioned in person by reporters.

"No comment," said Alan K. Silberstein at the BRT offices in the Curtis Center. "What don't you understand about that?"

Anthony Lewis Jr., who was by appointed city judges to the board last month, said: "At this point, all the questions are being answered by the chairperson."

Howard M. Goldsmith, who also was named to the board in March with Brady's support, said he was would not discuss the BRT on the advice of his attorney. "No comment," he said.

The board's attorneys were not talking either, though. Howard K. Goldstein, who is representing board members, declined to speak on the record and then abruptly hung up on a reporter.

A hearing on the proposed pay cut is scheduled for next Thursday, the earliest slot permissible under council rules.

"I fully support the mayor on this," Council President Anna Verna said, predicting the legislation has the votes needed to pass.