Philly Mail Distribution Center Flawed: City Controller

“Tens of thousands” of Philadelphia residents may have been impacted by mismanagement in the city’s Mail Distribution Center, the City Controller revealed Tuesday following an investigation.

City Controller Alan Butkovitz says an initial investigation of the City of Philadelphia’s Mail Distribution Center uncovered “tens of thousands pieces of mail not being processed in timely fashion, including court notices, fines, tax bills, water bills and parking violations.”

The Mail Center is a large facility operated by several city employees under the Department of Revenue. It is responsible for gathering all city-related correspondence to Philadelphians and those doing business with the city, prior to being delivered through the United States Postal Service, Butkovitz explained in a statement.

The Controller’s investigators found about 4,000 water bill notices still stored in the Mail Center one day before the payment was due. “These notices were requiring individuals to pay the balance by the due date or be subject to legal action,” Butkovitz said in a statement.

“While our findings are part of a more in-depth investigation, we are deeply concerned with our initial discovery and we felt it necessary to report to the public immediately,” said Butkovitz.

Other examples of the Controller’s findings in the Mail Center include:

• Subpoenas for individuals to appear in Traffic Court were observed on the same day that the individuals were ordered for court. One example included a notice that was dated Nov. 17, 2015, but it was still in the facility on Dec. 3, which was the same day as the court hearing.
• Municipal Court notices for payments were observed on Dec. 16; however, the payments were due on Dec. 14.
• Several parking violations issued by the Philadelphia Parking Authority were observed on Nov. 5 even though they were dated 10 days prior. The violation was supposed to be paid or contested within 10 days.

In addition to the delay in mail processing, Butkovitz believes the Mail Center is wasting funds on postage costs by not appropriately processing mail. “It was found that numerous skids of mail were processed at the 48.5 cent rate instead of the pre-sorted rate of 39.1 cents, which is what the city should be utilizing with its sorting machines,” he said.

If you feel this has impacted you, contact the Fraud Hotline at 215-686-3804 or email FraudTips@PhiladelphiaController.org.