City relies on private loan to cover costs
Wednesday, September 2nd, 2009
By: Susan Phillips
sphillips@whyy.org
Philadelphia's vendors will be getting paid after weeks of delays prompted by the city's budget crisis. The city says that it will borrow $275 million dollars on the private market.
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Mayor Michael Nutter says the city is unable to access public markets to solve its cash flow problems, so its getting a short-term bailout from Wall Street. J.P. Morgan Chase will loan the city $275 million dollars to cover bills that have gone unpaid since July.
But for a long-term solution, Mayor Michael Nutter is depending on a sales tax hike, which the state House is scheduled to vote on next week.
Nutter: Next week would be the week where everyone, from the most needy to the most vulnerable, to the most well off and well to do will be impacted in ways that no responsible government would choose.
Nutter says if the bill does not pass, then residents will be notified of reduced trash pick-ups, rec center closures, and the need to return all books back to the libraries.