City Plans to Spill Doomsday Budget Details Tomorrow
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City Plans to Spill Doomsday Budget Details Tomorrow
Catherine Lucey
PhillyClout has learned that Mayor Nutter is planning a press conference for tomorrow afternoon., which will detail the catastrophic budget Philly will be forced to implement if Harrisburg doesn’t approve the city’s budget requests.
Nutter has asked state lawmakers to approve two budget items, a temporary 1 cent increase to the city sales tax and some changes to city payments into the pension fund. Without those approvals, the city must make up a $700 million gap over five years.
Sources tell PhillyClout that the list of cuts that the city is expected to discuss tomorrow, should Harrisburg not come through, includes layoffs of between 600 and 800 police officers and as many as 200 firefighters.
The plan also includes closing two health centers, shuttering most recreation centers and libraries and going to bi-weekly trash pickup. In total about 3,000 city workers would lose their jobs, from almost every department.*
We’ve asked the press office for comment on tomorrow’s event. We’ll update as we learn more.
5 p.m. - The press office has now sent out a release:
MEDIA ADVISORY
MAYOR NUTTER TO LEAD RALLY, URGING ACTION IN HARRISBURG ON CITY BUDGET PROPOSALS
WHO: Mayor Michael A. Nutter
WHAT: Mayor Nutter will lead a rally tomorrow urging legislators in Harrisburg to take action on the City’s proposals to increase the City sales tax and to make changes to pension payments. He will also outline in the greatest detail to date, the devastating consequences of Harrisburg not approving these proposals and failing to pass its own budget.
WHERE: City Hall courtyard (the rally will be held in the Mayor’s Reception Room in the event of heavy rain)
WHEN: Thursday July 30, 2009 2:00 pm
* The post was updated to include this paragraph at 5:35 p.m.
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David Gambacorta spent a small eternity writing about cops, drug dealers and serial killers. Now he’s writing about power and politics – which sometimes reminds him of the old crime beat. He joined the Daily News in 2005. And yes, he knows you’re not quite sure how to pronounce his last name. E-mail tips to gambacd@phillynews.com
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Jan Ransom, a native New Yorker, joined the Daily News in 2010 after graduating from Howard University. She has since written about the difficulty of filing police complaints, tax deadbeats and life after violent home invasions. She joined the Daily News City Hall Bureau in 2011 and has plunged headfirst into reporting on administration budget battles and City Council shenanigans. E-mail tips to ransomj@phillynews.com
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Sean Collins Walsh is from Bucks County and went to Northwestern University. He joined the Daily News copy desk in 2012 and now covers the Nutter administration. Before that, he interned at papers including The New York Times, The Dallas Morning News and The Seattle Times. E-mail tips to walshSE@phillynews.com
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