Council takes the budget show on the road
City Council held a hearing to talk about the budget Wednesday night but it wasn’t in their usual place. Blocks up Broad Street from City Hall, council members took a seat at Temple University and listened to public testimony about city finances.
City Council held a hearing to talk about the budget Wednesday night but it wasn’t in their usual place. Blocks up Broad Street from City Hall, council members took a seat at Temple University and listened to public testimony about city finances.
Transcript:
Council members asked for public input and boy did they get it.
Like many residents and advocates who spoke, community activist Ronald Armour came to tell Council he’s strongly opposed to the Mayor’s proposed property tax hike.
Armour: “One of my family members has a property at 28th and Poplar on the south side. She’s 77 years of age and with a 19 percent tax increase it would just about wipe her out.”
Plenty of people in the auditorium came just to listen. One man said he’d never been involved at all in the city’s budget process and decided to come because the event was in the neighborhood.
This is the first of two scheduled hearings outside of City Hall. Council members are reviewing the Mayor’s proposed budget which includes temporary property and sales tax increases.
The city is wrestling with a $171 million shortfall next year.
Listen:
Click on the play button below or right click on this link and choose “Save Link As” to download.
[audio: reports20090402council.mp3]
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