City Council just passed the $3.8 billion* fiscal year 2010 city budget, designed to close a $1.4 billion gap in the five-year financial plan. Mayor Nutter is expected to quickly sign into law the spending plan, which goes into effect on July 1. But one major step is still needed. The state General Assembly must approve provisions in the city budget to increase the sales tax by 1 cent for five years and to stretch contributions to the city's pension fund to 30 years instead of 20 years.
If Harrisburg doesn't come through, the city will instead implement an alternate budget with wide-spread cuts, including police lay-offs, the elimination of some fire equipment and reduction in trash pick-up.
Nutter and Council struck the budget deal last week when he abandoned his call for a controversial two-year increase in property taxes that did not require approval from Harrisburg.
The state's budget deadline is the end of June and negotiations often drag into July. So it could be a while before the city knows whether this budget will hold. And some Harrisburg lawmakers have made clear that they have concerns about the city’s plans.
State Rep. Brendan Boyle, whose district covers parts of the far Northeast, this week said he does not plan to vote for a hike in the sales tax. “I think it would be very unfair to the Northeast,” he said, noting that merchants in his district compete with nearby businesses in Bucks and Montgomery counties, where the sales tax is currently six cents on the dollar. “I’ve heard from local business owners.”
Boyle said he might feel differently if the sales tax in the surrounding counties increased also.
* Corrected -- the first version of this post said million
Posted by Chris Brennan & Catherine Lucey @ 11:19 AM
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20 comments
is it 3.8 million or 3.8 billion
Harrisburg is not going to pass a sales tax hike, and it shouldn't pass this sales tax hike, because it will just let Philly not correct the severe things wrong with how it collects overdue revenue and increase costs. There is a house on my block that has been in probate for over ten years, owes at least $4,000 or $5,000 in property taxes, and still owes, because I checked and there are three years of delinquent taxes, fees and fines. It has been fined and liens placed by L&I for several clean and seals, trash clean ups, rodent issues, etc. and is uninhabitable. Many complaints over many years have gone to Anna Verna, and none have resulted in satisfaction of a request to SEND THIS HOUSE TO SHERIFF SALE. Shells in this area sell for $100,000 to $250,000. This are offers people have told me they've made on shells. But the owners are unable to manage or pay or settle probate. This is a classic case of where the city costs itself $50,000 when it could collect $5,000 in overdue taxes and $30,000 in unpaid fines (partial demo, clean and seal, trash removal) over the years. People WANT to buy these shells, but the city WON'T fix the Dept. of Revenue and Sheriff in order to be able to collect. And won't fix the BRT to assess the house properly using the real values in the area, but that's another story that Tanfani, Fazlollah, and Kerkstra covered pretty well. The same issues with the BRT are the same in the Register of Wills, the Dept. of Revenue, the Sheriff, and the result is blight by city policy. Lost revenue, high costs, blight by fiat. IF H-burg raises the sales tax, this just cements this dysfunctional property tax assessment and collection system in Philly, uniquely bad in all the region. The rest of the state should not be asked to subsidize this system.
Good eye Goog. We need more internet peasants.
How long is the city and the press going to ignore that the city is owed $522 million in overdue property taxes that are on the books for years and years, even decades at a time? Half a BILLION, and yes, with a B friends, is real money. I get the sense is just no real money to the majority of the writers at the two biggest papers. This is the kind of attitude that will sink your own papers like it will sink the city.
I get the sense that this just not real money to the city or to the press. This childlike approach is going to result in mass layoffs in the city and in the press.
I think we're already in Plan D. Plan C, with just police cuts, fire cuts, court cuts, and prison budget reductions, is also ridiculous. There's no ability to cut the life-limb services because is climbing all the time. We have to cut the parts of local government that are less essential because the population has fallen. We have to cut the parts of government that are funded by the state and feds. We have to cut redundant city departments. We have six agencies with the word "housing" in them. We have almost as many with the word "development" in them. Does the city need to be a landlord and developer? There are state and federally funded agencies and privately funded nonprofits that do that work. Ditto recreation. Can't we sell some pools and rec centers? O'Connor pool could be sold the crowded Lombard Swim Club. Sell the Dell to LiveNation or some other great concert promoter. Sell the crumbling Marian Anderson Rec Center. There is a YMCA a block away from it. Foreclose on the tax delinquent properties that are empty, with no more stalling. Other cities are already way ahead of us in responding to the downtown. Why is Philly so calcified?
Is the plan C Lucey wrote so well about at this juncture still even possible? Just cutting police because they are a big line item is blind to the needs of the city. There are agencies that could be halved and no one would notice. The row offices are just one example. There are collections that the city has to start now in forfeit bail and overdue property taxes. There is not this cache of business tax revenue to go after like there is property taxes which is now over half a billion owed the city. Why is the city ignoring property tax delinquency as it focuses on the ten times smaller amount owed in unpaid business tax? Why isn't AVI in place now? It is ready to go. It's time. People will make arrangements to pay if they know they have to, so give them more time to do that. There are agencies that Butkovitz never audited, in violation of the legal requirements of his office, and I bet you those are the offices that need to be cut. That list of unaudited city departments is likely the best place to cut the most waste.
being a lifelong resident - here is what I see as the problem - the city is a city of neighborhoods this is great for cultural benefits, shops, etc - but bad for city governance...being a city of neighborhoods - we tend (no do) vote for the same people over and over again and nothing changes - because we vote for the guy in the neighborhood - he will know how to fix it - he lives here - he is my friend....wrong wrong wrong; cleanup - Verna was notified about the house - but she does not care because she does her true friends (the people in her circle) do not live in that neighborhood - there is a voting neighborhood - (I am from here vote for me) and a living neighborhood - same zip code - but I never set foot in there because I do not want to get killed...if a friend of verna called about the house - it would have been taken care off...if a constituent calls - it falls on deaf ears...and this is true for all of city council...what needs to be done is 1) Term limits; 2) have the tax info of elected and appointed officials be made public; 3) have any resident (barring the elderly/sick) that receives public assistance from the city (water, Gas) have to perform some type of community service...what does this accomplish - term limits - gives us new blood; new ideas and stops power grabs; tax info - shows if the public officials are honest - where is all their income come from, etc; people who take from the city should give back - maybe they will have pride in their area that they live...I could go on - but this would be a start
I have never been more honored than to be called a peasant
Let this be a wake up call for the city tax payers, remember the state of california budget crisis they do not want to make cuts and just spend, we need to make some cuts now, the ecomany outlook does not seem as rossy as the president is been talking about. I see their will be many more years of this ecominic problem.
CleanupPhilly, you should write a book or a commentary in Citypaper or PW on how to fix Philly; maybe you can make some $ off of your comments, which do tend to be well thought out.
The sales tax rate increase is 14.2%
Sorry Philly, you get raise taxes to get out of this one. Now you have to actually use real judgment and actually MAKE CUTS TO GOVERNMENT. It's hard. Yes, it means prioritizing our needs and wants as a city. Sorry, it's real work. But now you must absolutely do it. Harrisburg should not bail out Philly once again. Harrisburg, VOTE NO to the sales tax increase.
CleanupPhilly posts the same comment in every article.
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About Chris Brennan and Catherine Lucey
Chris Brennan, a native Philadelphian and graduate of Temple University, joined the Daily News in 1999. He has written about SEPTA, the Philadelphia School District, the legalization of casino gambling, state government, the mayor, the governor, City Council and political campaigns.
Catherine Lucey joined the Daily News in 2002. Since then she has written about murderous drug gangs, political protesters and Harry Potter. For the past two years, she covered the 2007 mayoral election. Now that the battle is over, she has moved down to the City Hall bureau where she will report on the Nutter administration.
Catherine Lucey joined the Daily News in 2002. Since then she has written about murderous drug gangs, political protesters and Harry Potter. For the past two years, she covered the 2007 mayoral election. Now that the battle is over, she has moved down to the City Hall bureau where she will report on the Nutter administration.
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