Property taxes are always a hot-button issue, especially in a city with such an unusually high number of homeowners, and few issues tend to kick the bees' nest quite like reassessments. 

With the steady drumbeat of criticism from property owners about the Office of Property Assessment's 2019 assessments, and City Council's recent decision not to reapprove OPA's chief assessor Michael Piper, the Kenney administration has announced they'll conduct a national search for someone new to lead the city's property assessment office.

But just a day later, in a separate story about OPA's land valuation methods, Kenney spokesman Mike Dunn is still out there defending the biggest thing OPA is doing wrong. 

(Councilman David Oh | Image: Philadelphia City Council)

A new charter amendment from Councilman David Oh would be a major setback for the cause of fair property taxes in Philadelphia by giving City Council veto power over assessments for the first time—a move that would ensure Philly once again goes decades without updating our valuations.