There has been a lot of talk about Philadelphia’s “row offices” over the past few days since Mayor Nutter first starting pushing the idea that the city should begin to consider a complete reorganization of government.  The Mayor, faced with the prospect of a 5-year budget gap that seems to double by the hour, had asked for the holders of these independently elected offices to consider trimming their own expenses and taking voluntary salary reductions.

[Cue cricket sound]

While some of these officials have cooperated, others, including some on City Council have not been so quick to move.  Soon after the mayor made his request, the Daily News checked in to see who was doing what.  About 10 days ago an update showed that the District Attorney was one of the loan holdouts to the salary cutting plan.  Even the Sheriff and Clerk of Quarter Sessions (who should, by rule, have to dress in the colonial style clothing befitting their titles) chipped in 5 percent.

The Daily News editorialized today about whether many of these offices are necessary.  For example, everyone’s favorite internet-phobes, the City Commissioners:

A perfect example is the Office of the City Commissioners, responsible for running local elections. Elections in every other county in the state are run by a nonpartisan board staffed by civil servants. Philadelphia should consider moving to a similar system if it would increase efficiency and save money.

All of these offices, the DN points out, have a combined budget of over $200 million.

Over at It’s Our Money, the partnership of the Daily News and WHYY to cover the minutiae of the budget process, Ben Waxman has posted contact information for all of the offices in question.

Right now, the idea of tearing up the charter an starting all over is only speculation and wishful thinking on the parts of many - the mayor, the local progressive blogosphere, the press (what a story!).  But if two years from now, voters of Philadelphia are looking at a ballot question to “create a charter change commission with the purpose of evaluating the old city charter and creating an entire new one,” then we will look back on the past week and remember that the process started here.

By the way, for those of you who are curious about where the term “row offices” comes from, according to this article about New Castle County Delaware:

The County retains the concept of “row offices” from Pennsylvania, so-called because all of these county offices could be found in a row in smaller courthouses.