It's Our City is a project that uses TV, Radio and Web
to promote civic engagement in the Philadelphia region.Mayor briefs Council on dire budget balancing options
Tuesday, February 10th, 2009 at 11:15 am - by Its Our City Staff. Filed under: Budget.
With budget numbers turned into service cut and tax raise scenarios, a somber row of council members digests the information
by Elizabeth Fiedler, WHYY News
The city is moving ahead with plans to close its $1 billion dollar budget gap. Last night, Mayor Nutter gathered budget officials and City Council members at the Municipal Services Building in Center City. City department heads unveiled their 10, 20 and 30 percent cuts as required by the Mayor.
Possible cuts include layoffs, closing fire ladder and engine companies, and shutting down libraries or limiting their hours.
Police Commissioner Charles Ramsey says that since salaries make up such a large part of his budget, it doesn’t leave much to cut other than people.
Ramsey: “If we went to a 20 percent scenario, everything that we did in the 10 percent would still hold true but in addition to that our layoffs now go up to a total 1,765. That’s the previous 929 plus the additional layoffs we would have to add on to that in order to get to our 20 percent reduction.”
The budget briefing included ways the city could make money through potential tax hikes. Mayor Nutter stressed that final decisions have not been made and that he’s making the scenarios public so citizens can give their input on the budget process.
Image Gallery
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- Mayor Nutter briefs City Council as Councilmembers Curtis Jones and Maria Quinones-Sanchez look over the numbers
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- Councilmen Bill Green, IV and Wilson Goode, Jr. look on as budget cutting scenarios reviewed
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- Police Commissioner Charles Ramsey answers question from Councilwoman Quinones-Sanchez as Councilman Jones observes.
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- With budget numbers turned into service cut scenarios, a somber row of council members digests the information
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February 11th, 2009 at 10:07 am
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