Nutter assures chamber Philly is ‘turning a corner’

Philadelphia Mayor Michael Nutter assured the business community Thursday that the city is doing better despite the tough economic climate.

 

“Despite all of the challenges of the past two and a half years, I firmly believe we are starting to turn a corner,” Nutter said during his annual speech to the Greater Philadelphia Chamber of Commerce.

The mayor pointed out the economic distress is still not over and the city’s officials are still struggling to keep a balanced budget.

“Across city government, we have done more with less. However, I am all too aware of the potential land mines that lie ahead,” he said.

In the event state or federal government subsidies to the city come up short, there could be trouble ahead, Nutter said.

“I’ve had to make some tough budget decisions myself, I get it, but let’s not make cuts in the short term that will hurt us in the long term such as across-the-board cuts in education,” he said.

The mayor told the chamber he wants to work toward reforming the business privilege tax. He said he hopes to bring back tax cuts in 2014.