Clout: Go directly to jail. Do not pass Go. Pay $35

HERE'S A NEW idea to help the city through its budget crisis: Charge $35 for admission to the county jail.

The Philadelphia Prison System is considering a processing fee for new inmates at the Northeast Philadelphia prison complex on State Road.

"We eat up a lot of tax dollars," said prison spokesman Robert Eskind. "This is an approach that might help reduce some of the costs of this operation."

The idea came up during recent discussions between city budget and prison officials. With 38,000 people a year admitted to the prison system, a $35 charge could raise as much as $1.3 million. The city has discounted the potential revenue to $400,000, recognizing that many of those arrested are indigent and that the $35 figure could be reduced.

"We're living in a world where there are fees for all sorts of things," Eskind said. "The courts charge a fee. . . . We're more expensive than any of those operations."

The intake charge would help cover the salaries of social workers who interview each new inmate, of correctional officers who determine an appropriate level of custody and of others who store inmates' property during their jail time.

And - at no additional charge - "everyone gets a complete physical when they come in," Eskind said. Some of them, he added, are "very sick, very depressed."

The potential fees would also offset the costs of educational and vocational programs.

Eskind said that prison officials are still mulling the idea, expecting to make a decision within a couple of months and still flexible on how much to charge.

"It's not set in stone," he said.

Room at the top

Since last spring, Mayor Nutter has issued quarterly reports on who gets free tickets to the mayor's box to see the Phillies, the Eagles, the 76ers and the Flyers, among other events at the city stadiums, arenas, the Mann Music Center and Robin Hood Dell East.

Compared with the days when then-Mayor John Street turned over tickets to Ron White and other political fundraisers, Nutter's guest lists are tame reading. He regularly shares the royal box with City Council members, other elected officials and dozens of guests from rec centers, youth athletic groups and other nonprofits.

The most surprising aspect is how many of the seats go empty. While there was no room at post-season Phillies games, or the Eagles' bashes, the box has been empty, or nearly so, for most of the Flyers and 76ers contests. No one visited the mayor's box for any games played by the Phantoms or Temple's football team.

"We certainly don't want empty seats," said Luke Butler, the mayor's deputy press secretary. He said that the administration was looking at new ways to distribute ducats, including an arrangement with the school district to reward students with straight A's or perfect attendance (as has been suggested in columns by our own Stu Bykofsky).

Back in October, the mayor's office tried once to make seats available to the general public.

"We announced that we'd have a lottery for tickets to the World Series," remembered press secretary Doug Oliver. "Within minutes, we had something like 7,000 responses. We don't have the capacity to handle that. What we tell people is: Reach out to your Council person. We provide tickets to them."

Rizzo for . . . ever?

Like many of his colleagues, Councilman Frank Rizzo has signed up for the city's infamous Deferred Retirement Option Plan (DROP), requiring him to retire at the end of his current four-year term and accept a six-figure check from the city retirement system.

But that hasn't stopped the 65- year-old councilman from renaming his political-action committee, now Frank Rizzo '11, and contemplating a re-election bid.

If he won another term, he could retire for a single day, collect the DROP check and then get sworn in for another four years - just as Councilwoman Joan Krajewski did early last year.

"I know the editorial boards won't like it," Rizzo said this week. "But the people I work with know that I work hard, and most people say that if they had the opportunity to take the DROP check, they would do the same thing. . . . If I'm healthy and feel good, I'll probably run for re-election. I'd make my case and see if the people want me back."

One other possibility: a run for lieutenant governor next year, which would require him to give up his Council seat as soon as he declares his candidacy.

Rizzo, first elected to Council in 1995, said that he's meeting with a few people who know the statewide territory, "and we'll see what happens." He said that he'd have to make a firm decision by early 2010.

A smoke-filled room?

Zack Stalberg, president of the Committee of Seventy, said that his staff was just trying a bit of humor with a recent Web site report that said that the three city commissioners held a meeting last week "in a smoke-filled back room in City Hall."

In fact, it has been 15 years since then-Mayor Ed Rendell banned smoking in City Hall and other government workplaces. You can still catch an occasional whiff of smoke in public rest-rooms and some offices (including the commissioners'), but it has been years since Clout saw anyone at a public meeting puffing more than hot air.

Marge Tartaglione, the commissioners' chairman, blasted Seventy's report when the city's election officials met this week, and staff members joined in.

"That report was completely untrue, and it gave the impression that something nefarious was going on," said campaign-finance specialist Tim Dowling.

The civic group took the language off its Web site. "If they were unable to enjoy the small bit of humor in this, we thought we would take it down," Stalberg said. *

Daily News reporters Julie Shaw, Bob Warner and Catherine Lucey contributed to this report.