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to promote civic engagement in the Philadelphia region.Philadelphia Mayor Nutter announces more budget cuts
Tuesday, August 18th, 2009 at 7:33 am - by Alan Tu. Filed under: Budget.
Laying the blame squarely on the the Pennsylvania Legislature, Philadelphia Mayor Michael Nutter announced more budget cuts yesterday. The reason the city’s fiances are tied to the state is because Philadelphia is already operating in the new fiscal year and it was counting on state approval of a city sales tax hike. Nutter says every month that lawmakers in Harrisburg delay action on the city’s request is means $10 million less in anticipated revenue from a higher sale tax.
Today’s Philadelphia Inquirer details the cuts.
Hours of the 24-hour 311 call center will be sharply reduced. Starting Aug. 29, the service will be closed Sundays, and open only from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Saturdays and from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. on weekdays. The move will save $230,000 a year.
More than 100 police cadets will not be hired this fall as scheduled, saving $3.2 million.
The city will not purchase replacement vehicles - except police cars - saving $4.8 million.
More than $10 million in additional cuts: eliminating empty positions, laying off a dozen workers, and canceling contracts mostly in internal service departments, such as Finance and Public Property.
So, these cuts will be permanent for the remaining of the 2009-2010 fiscal year that began on July 1.
So, here’s the question.
Is the legislature to blame because they are just punishing Philly to pressure Governor Ed Rendell (a former Philly mayor) to drop his demands for raising state taxes?
or
Is the city to blame for enacting a budget that didn’t have enough money to begin with?
August 20th, 2009 at 1:47 am
Why does Philly need courts? Your population enthusiastically supports a football team that signed a thug who ran a gambling ring and got pleasure from killing and torturing helpless dogs.
Your town will reap what it has sown - prepare to be overrun with murdering, sadistic scumbags unfettered and unchecked by societal niceties like a working court system and a functioning police department.
Enjoy.
August 27th, 2009 at 3:50 pm
two wrongs don’t make a right.
August 29th, 2009 at 8:27 pm
Unfortunately, john Roller (comment#1) is correct. The city of Philadelphia has been mismanaged for decades. For example: even though the housing market had dropped in value across the country, the city failed to realize that one of their big income producers (R.E.Tranfer Tax) would fall well short of the projected revenue. Now with Police/Fire Cutbacks, Trash Collection Cutbacks, Library Closings, Recreational Site Closings and severe cutbacks in other city services, is there any reason why taxpayers should feel optimistic about the city’s future financial outlook? The city should expect to cut even more services and increase taxes. That will ultimately result in more good taxpayers leaving the city (just like me). These taxpayers who never call the police and cook their dinner on kerosene stoves are being replaced by folks who can’t afford to pay taxes and need many city services. Philadelphia is on the brink of destruction with no answer in sight.
September 22nd, 2009 at 9:13 pm
Ok I live in philadelphia and I am a 12th grader at High school of the future. Just because you hear about philly dont mean you know what your talking about. Mayor Nutter is doing his best to help us out with the budget.”Your population enthusiastically supports a football team that signed a thug who ran a gambling ring and got pleasure from killing and torturing helpless dogs”. That comment is wrong because no one supported him hurting dog. Just because he is black he has to be a thug. I bet some one from your home town foot ball team do the same thing but no one knows. I am mad that they shut down 68 out of 81 pools in philly. But you what to know what. People just see the bad in Philly, what about the good. My school opened up a club called Y.D.S.L.C and so far we rasied a lot of money to open up 12 pools.