No. 017 · · Money
No tax sale since April 2021; the city is owed roughly $170 million in back taxes
Tax sales — auctions of tax-delinquent properties — stopped in March 2020 with the pandemic, briefly resumed with online auctions in April 2021, and then stopped again. By the end of 2023 the office had not held one in more than two and a half years, and the city was owed roughly $170 million in back taxes, an increase of nearly $40 million since 2019. Asked why, “Sheriff Rochelle Bilal and her staff won’t say,” the Inquirer reported; a lawyer’s statement confirmed only that tax sales “have not occurred since April of 2021.”
In January 2024, Bilal and the new Parker administration traded blame in dueling statements. Since January 2022, the city had gone to court over roughly 1,330 tax-delinquent properties. The sales resumed in July 2024 under a new, Law Department-approved contract.
The sheriff’s explanation
“The attorneys assigned to represent the City in tax delinquent sales must submit documentation to the Sheriff Office’s for the sale to proceed. To date, the last decrees we received for tax delinquent sales were March 2020 from the City Law Department.”
The Philadelphia InquirerThe administration’s
“This is wholly a matter for the Sheriff’s Office. They need to explain what they are — or aren’t — doing with regard to these tax sales.”
The Philadelphia InquirerSources
- William Bender and Ryan W. Briggs. “Philly's sheriff hasn't held a tax sale in years. The city says it's costing them millions.” The Philadelphia Inquirer, .
- William Bender and Ryan W. Briggs. “Sheriff Rochelle Bilal, Mayor Cherelle Parker trade blame over failure to sell tax-delinquent properties since 2021.” The Philadelphia Inquirer, .
- Ryan W. Briggs and William Bender. “Three years later, the Sheriff's Office resumes auctions for 1,000-plus tax-delinquent properties.” The Philadelphia Inquirer, .