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City savings: The freshman 15

IN THE ELECTION of 2007, Philadelphians declared their desire for change in the leadership of the city of Philadelphia.

IN THE ELECTION of 2007, Philadelphians declared their desire for change in the leadership of the city of Philadelphia.

They demanded a government that is proactive, not reactive - a government that exists to serve its citizens, not the other way around.

Accomplishing the numerous challenges laid out by voters was never going to be easy, but it has been made increasingly difficult by the state of our nation's economy. Mayor Nutter warned in early September that the city faced at least a $450 million deficit in the city's five-year plan.

As the nation's economy continued to falter, toppling international markets and prompting the largest federal bailout in government history, the city's financial outlook became even bleaker. We now know that the shortfall in the five-year plan is projected to be $850 million and, in our view, may possibly rise to $1 billion.

While other cities face similar crises, Philadelphia has one distinct advantage - our elected leadership. The Nutter administration has responded quickly to the financial crisis and will roll out its plan of attack on Oct. 30. In the meantime, we join the mayor in asking all branches of government to identify efficiencies and cost-saving measures.

Adversity is a wonderful motivation for self-improvement. Over the last few months, we have identified a number of cost-saving measures, discussed below, that have the potential to save city government over $60 million annually.

We look forward to working with the administration and our fellow city council members in evaluating and implementing these measures. Moreover, we hope that by sharing these ideas, citizens and employees will be inspired to come forth with their own ideas for cost-saving measures.

The mayor has made clear that in this difficult time, "everything is on the table." And, since everything is on the table, everyone must be at the table, from city employees to department officials to private citizens. Citizens don't want us to point fingers - they want us to provide solutions. So here are our "Freshmen 15":

1. Transfering Funds Electronically: $2 million in savings.

Harrisburg sends the city $250 million in checks annually. Mandating the electronic transfer of these funds would let the city eliminate losses due to uncashed and lost checks and earn additional interest on the money.

2. Car Sharing: $2.72 million.

To realize these savings, the city would eliminate 500 cars from its fleet and increase its use of existing vehicle-sharing programs.

3. Reduce Utility Bills: $250,000.

By using timers and daylight-sensors, the city can ensure that outdoor lights at city facilities are not on during daylight hours and that indoor lights in city buildings are off at night.

4. Out-of-town Travel Freeze for City Employees: $100,000.

Gov. Rendell has done it in Harrisburg, let's do it in Philadelphia.

5. Mail Policies: $25,000.

Stop using the postal service as the city's interoffice mail system and instead use e-mail to send documents electronically.

6. Ban Swag & Custom Printing: $100,000.

Do our tax dollars really need to be spent printing a department's name on a beach chair? (And why are we giving out beach chairs?)

7. Recoup Outstanding Bail Money: $10 million.

According to District Attorney Abraham, the city is owed $1 billion in outstanding bail. Let's recover 1 percent of that each year.

8. Burglar Alarm Service Fee:

$2.5 million.

The service fee for responding to burglar alarms hasn't been raised since 1992. As a result, the city spends more to respond to alarms than it collects in service fees. Fees need to be adjusted.

9. Strategic Use of Overtime:

$9.4 million.

The city plans to spend $188 million on overtime this year,

10 to 13 percent of its payroll costs, compared to most municipalities, which spend only 5 percent on overtime. The city should make a modest 5 percent reduction.

10. Technology Reorganization: $10 million.

Includes: Strategic sourcing, centralized IT procurement, creating an IT budget class, moving to thin client devices and floating licenses.

11. Paperless Government: $18 million to $26.6 million.

Includes exploring electronic procurement, paperless paychecks, double-sided printing. The ultimate goal: eliminating most paper use.

12. Switch city phones to the Internet: $2 to $3 million. VoIP phone service is significantly less expensive than traditional service.

13. Lease City Rooftops and

Land for Cellular Phone Antennas: $2 million.

14.Hire Additional Audit Staff: $2.78 million. Audit staff in the Revenue Department generate up to 10 times their salary in revenue for the city.

15. Close Tax Loopholes: $5 to $10 million. Such loophole-closings include limiting Real Estate Investment Trust deductions, collecting taxes on the for-profit business activities of non-profit entities and tightening regulations regarding payments between related companies. *

Bill Green is a city councilman-at-large, Maria Quiñones-Sánchez is the 7th District councilwoman and Curtis Jones Jr. is the 4th District councilman. This list can be found on www.ourmoneyphilly.com with a place for your comments.