Nutter wants DROP gone now; Council has reasons for taking its time

Philadelphia Mayor Michael Nutter wants DROP gone now. But City Council is taking its time considering the measure and Council President Anna Verna says they have good reason.

The legislation to end the Deferred Retirement Option or DROP program continues to lumber through Philadelphia City Council, but not nearly as fast as Mayor Michael Nutter would like to see.

He says DROP needs to be eliminated immediately since it is costing the city too much money.  Meanwhile, Council President Anna Verna says she and her colleagues are not stalling on the DROP bill.

“We will deal with that issue at the appropriate time,” she says. “Right now we are waiting for a report from our consultant, hopefully in two weeks we will receive it, we will review it and immediately after that we will schedule a public hearing.”

Verna, who has enrolled in DROP, says an opinion from the city solicitor that council can abolish the benefit doesn’t change her timetable.

“We are not holding it up because of the city solicitor’s opinion,” she says. “We are awaiting a report from our consultant.”

The council president says hearings on the matter won’t happen before next month.