It's all about the money

April 1, 2007
Tom Ferrick Jr.
Inquirer columnist

I have figured out why we have a record number of candidates running for public office in the May 15 primary election in Philadelphia.

They need the money.

You can make $105,800 a year as a City Council member. Traffic Court judges get paid $79,934 annually. A Common Pleas Court judge rakes in $155,175 a year.

This may explain why we also seem to have a record number of candidates who owe back taxes to various government entities, including the city, state and the IRS.

When I went searching public records, I found tax deadbeats galore — some of them in hock for relatively small amounts of cash, some of them owing thousands.

In some cases, they disclosed these debts on the state’s financial disclosure forms. In other cases, they did not — t violating the strict state ethics law requirements on disclosure. (Yes, the same law U.S. Rep. Bob Brady tripped over by failing to disclose his sweetheart pension deal with the carpenters.)

The reigning champion of tax debt appears to be Betty Townes, one of 14 Democratic candidates for three vacancies on Traffic Court.

Public records indicate Townes owes more than $50,000 in back taxes to the IRS, the state, and the city of Philadelphia. Her back real-estate taxes alone total $13,800 for two properties she owns on Wayne Avenue.

I called Townes to see if she has whittled down these tax debts, but I was unable to reach her.

However, I must give her credit for candor. On her state disclosure form, she did list under “Creditors” the city, the state and the Internal Revenue Service. The form does not require you to list the amounts owed.

Harry Massele, one of the 20 Democratic candidates for City Council at large, wasn’t as forthcoming. In 2006, Massele had tax liens totaling $26,000 on eight rental properties he owns in Norristown Borough. He disclosed neither ownership of the properties nor the tax debts on his financial disclosure form.

Massele told me he paid off all the back taxes he owed in late 2006, so he’s square with the borough. County records confirm that. But under the rules, he was still suposed to list any liens during 2006.

And why not list the eight rental properties he owns in Norristown, plus another two he owns in Philadelphia? Massele said he felt he met that disclosure requirement by noting that he was a associate broker with a firm called Novo Realty.

I don’t think so, Harry.

Two years ago, one candidate — John Braxton — was knocked off the ballot for failing to list the rental properties he owned, so the law and precedent are clear.

Here is a list of other candidates owing taxes to various government entities:

Traffic Court. Albert Littlepage owes $10,066 in real estate taxes, fees and fines on his home on the 1800 block of South 17th Street. The debts dates to 2001, making Littlepage a persistent deadbeat. His campaign manager said he had paid those back taxes off. I could find no evidence of that in Revenue Department records, which were current as of Wednesday.

John Connelly, another Democratic candidate, is listed as owing $1,050 in property taxes and fines dating back to last year. I could not contact Connelly to see what was what. The phone number he listed on his state financial disclosure form was a nonworking number.

A total of $7,129 in taxes is owed on a South Wilton Street property where candidate Willie F. Singletary resides. Singletary said the debt is owed by his parents, who owned the home — and his family has an agreement with the city to pay the debt off over time. (Such agreements are common. They are also confidential. The city will not release any details of such deals.)

Common Pleas Court. Jacquelyn Frazier-Lyde, another Democrat, owes about $1,025 in 2006 taxes on a property she owns with her husband, Peter, on the 3100 block of North Broad Street Records also list two state tax liens totaling $2,500 against the couple. Frazier-Lyde did not return my phone calls.

Marvin L. Williams still owes the city $1,219 in back real-estate taxes and fines for 2006. Williams told me had an agreement with the city to pay the debt off over time. How did he miss his tax payments? As Williams explained, he ran for judge in 2005, “and running for judge is expensive.” I guess something had to give, and it was his taxes.

Sandjai Weaver owes $320 in taxes and fines on a rental property she owns on the 2300 block of N. Gratz Street. It’s a small amount, but Weaver has been a chronic deadbeat on this property. In 2005, when she ran the first time for a judgeship, she owed four years of back taxes on the same property. Calls to her weren’t returned.

City Council. Wilson R. Alexander, a Democrat running for Council at large, resides on the 1800 block of S. Divinity Street. City records list a real estate debt of $10,195 on that property. Alexander said the debt is his mother’s, who owns the house. I asked: “How long have you lived there?” “Since 1999,” he said. I asked him, since he has lived there for so long,
couldn’t he, like, help his mother out with the taxes? Alexander said he has had financial difficulties.

Rodney L. Little, another at large candidate, owes $1,363 in city real-estate taxes on his home on the 1200 block of N. 65th Street. When I reached Little, he explained he was on active duty in the U.S. Army and that his wife must have forgotten to pay the taxes. He said she was going to write a check immediately.

(If you skip paying your real estate taxes, the city does not let it go unnoticed. They send several reminders — listing fees and fines.)

Derek Green, another at-large candidate, owes $1,610 in real estate taxes from 2006. Green said he is under agreement with the city Revenue Department to pay that debt off. Green said he endured financial strains after he and his wife started a new business.

Row Offices. If nothing else, Anthony Clark is consistent. Clark, running as a Democrat for City Commissioner, owed back real-estate taxes when he first ran for that office in 2003. He owes taxes today, a total of $4,300 on two properties on the 2400 block of North 28th Street. When I reached Clark on his cell phone, he said: “Can I call you back?” He hasn’t yet.

Edgar Howard is an incumbent city commissioner running for re-election. Four years ago, I found he owed the state $6,900 for unemployment compensation overpayments. He has since paid off that debt.

Now he has a new one. He owes $3,165 in 2006 city real estate taxes, according to Revenue Department records. Howard said he bought the house in late 1995 and thought the taxes would be handled by the mortage company. They were not. He told me Friday that he was working with the mortgage company to settle the dispute. He said he has written a check for $1,500 to the city Revenue Department "as a downpayment." .

Fair enough. But, let me off this advice to him and all the other candidates: How about paying your taxes, the same way the rest of us do.