Council plans to work on budget deal next week

Philadelphia still doesn’t have a budget, but the leader of City Council says he wants a resolution soon. Council President Darrell Clarke has scheduled a meeting for Tuesday afternoon.  

“It’s quickly approaching the timeline that is real.”

 

Clarke said even though the official budget deadline has passed without a spending plan, next week will be critical to coming up with a deal.

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“I’d like to wrap this up relatively soon, we’re at a point where we really have to make a decision because we are approaching the end of our fiscal year.”

Clarke said if Philadelphia goes ahead with re-calculating property tax bills based on current market values — or if it puts off that plan for a year as some want to — he’s expecting a court challenge either way.  

“I think anything we do because of the process established by passing measures particularly as relates to revenue without having actual numbers will be met with some kind of a challenge regardless of what we end up doing.”

Since the new assessments aren’t expected to be done until fall, council is being asked to pass a budget that doesn’t specify property tax rates. Those would be determined once the assessments are complete.

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