Philadelphia waiting to see if country goes over the cliff before taking action

The city of Philadelphia could lose millions in federal grants if the so-called fiscal cliff is reached. Not much planning is underway for what to do in response.

 

Philadelphia City Finance Director Rob Dubow says at this point the Nutter administration has made no contingency plans if the president and Congress can’t avoid the fiscal cliff.

“We have to look at what gets cut and figure out what the impact on us is whether we have to do anything to compensate for it, we’d look at that when it happened,” said Dubow.

Dubow says if the tax exemption for municipal bonds is reduced or eliminated, that would be a big deal for Philadelphia.

“Which is crucial to us in terms of building infrastructure around the city,” he said. “That’s something that could hit us both in terms of our infrastructure and police and fire stations and the jobs they create especially with those who help with our construction.”

For now, Dubow says Philadelphia is taking a “wait and see” attitude.