Home Delivery

May 28, 4:49 PM | Traffic

Search for :

South Jersey news - Mob Scene - Jobs

options

Monday, August 17, 2009

Nutter Announces More Layoffs, Delays Police Training

Mayor Nutter today said the city will lay off 12 more employees and delay training for new police recruits to deal with a shortage in revenues due to a delay in getting state approval for a temporary sales tax hike.

Nutter plans to delay a Police Academy class due to start in the fall. He is also eliminating six full-time positions in the Mayor's Office [two of the six positions are filled] and laying off six employees in the city's 311 call center and four employees in the Finance Department. Layoff notices were issued Friday. The cuts take effect at the end of the month.

Nutter’s budget -- passed in May – counted on getting state approval to increase the local sales tax by 1 cent on the dollar for five years and to make changes in how the city's pension fund is replenished. Those changes, worth $700 million in the city's five-year plan, would help balance the budget.

But Harrisburg lawmakers still haven’t given the city the go-ahead on either item. And the budget plan counted on getting $10 million per month in sales tax revenue. If approved, the sales tax increase would take 4 to 6 weeks to implement. So the city has now lost $20 million in revenue for August and September – and October may be next.

"Ten million dollars a month is real money," Nutter said in a City Hall news conference. "That’s the real cost of delays in Harrisburg."

Last week, Republicans in the state Senate said they were on track to approve legislation needed by the city by Aug. 26. That would give Democrats who control the state House, which approved the city's legislation Aug. 5, just three business days to vote on the Senate's amended version before the city's fallback budget would have to be implemented.

Nutter called on the Senate to pass the legislation without amendments so Gov. Rendell could sign it into law without it having to go back to the House for another vote. He worried the city's budget issues could turn into the old video game Pong, with the legislation facing further delays if changes are also made in the House. "We'll just go back and forth, back and forth, between the Senate and the House," he said.

Posted by Catherine Lucey & Chris Brennan @ 3:30 PM Permalink | 88 comments

Comments

0 like this / 0 don't • Posted 3:54 PM, 08/17/2009

If Nutter's efforts to increase the sales tax succeed, it will only encourage purchasers of high priced items to do their business in Delaware. This sure as hell won't enhance the bottom line of Philadelphia based businesses. He needs to curtail the spending that City Council, and It's members relegate to themselves - like autos and the fuel, maintenance and insurance costs they entail. Also the drop program continues to drain the city's financial blood. Cut the spending, and get divorced from the status quo that has created this deficit. In any event, we don't need any additional taxes, just to perpetuate your lecherous lifestyle.

— anonimoose1

Comment removed.

0 like this / 0 don't • Posted 3:55 PM, 08/17/2009

Effective 8/15, the city was non-compliant with PICA. That should force a shutdown of the entire city and all spending, else this whole thing is really just a big political game and PICA in fact has no teeth - which means in effect, the state has no teeth. Nutter - you've got 28,000 people on staff - a few people here, a few people there ain't going to cut it. We elected you to make changes - make any change real for goodness sake - what kind of crisis were you looking for as a mandate for change? Or do you just want all of us transplants and our jobs and companies to up and leave for more sound municipal economies? Cause for all my taxes, I'm not seeing my return in city services.

— Philly Resident 19146

0 like this / 0 don't • Posted 4:16 PM, 08/17/2009

Know two of the biggest lies of all time? One is "the check's in the mail" and the second is "temporary tax hike". Maybe Nutter should lay himself off.

— Dumfounded

0 like this / 0 don't • Posted 4:19 PM, 08/17/2009

First off, people were already regularly leaving the city to purchase high priced items. Nothing new there. For all the bluster, raising the sales tax 1% is just 1%, but it sounds awful scary if you call it a 16% increase, as y'all always do. If the sales tax were 4% and it was raised to 5%, that would be a whopping 25% increase, but it would still be only one more penny on every dollar. Secondly, PR19146, does your trash get picked up? Do the kids have schools to go to? Police? Ambulance? Local Library? Phila property taxes are near nil (even tho they are far from equitable). Even 8% is lower than a lot of city for sales tax (NYC, Chicago, etc.). What exactly would it take for you to be pleased with your government service? Should Nutter be washing your car and cutting your lawn?

— sdls1603

0 like this / 0 don't • Posted 4:25 PM, 08/17/2009

Nutter is cutting the thing all residents use instead of cutting the things that fewest residents use, that are of lesser importance. That shows that he's not a leader. Cutting police training in the academy now is a slap in the face of the police who died in the last year and half. Nutter insults the uniformed personnel who are on the front lines. Meanwhile there is $425 million in overdue property taxes owed for more than one year that people who make big money are being allowed to not pay. People who are not paying their property taxes include members of Council's own staff, and Democratic Ward leaders. Nutter has to crack down on the abuses in his own party first before cutting police. There is no reason to put deadbeats in a payment plan who've got such high income. Nutter allows favors for his party members at the cost to public safety, which makes him a machine shill. Is that how he thinks Obama did things in Chicago? Nutter is ending his career before he's really started it.

— CleanupPhilly

0 like this / 0 don't • Posted 4:29 PM, 08/17/2009

Raising the sales tax to higher than the surrounding region will devastate the local economy, killing jobs, and shuttering struggling businesses. For businesses that sell appliance, bicycles, high end clothing, this will drive out sales. People have to think of that cost, even if they have not taken Econ 101. There are too few people who've had the college coursework in Philly, apparently, to know how the math and science works, but it's not "ideology." It's economics. There is a mathematical relationship on the supply and demand curve if you chart sales versus taxes. It's irrefutable. People like sdls don't get it.

— CleanupPhilly

0 like this / 0 don't • Posted 4:32 PM, 08/17/2009

Let's first collect the $425 million in overdue property taxes owed the city for more than one year, and no, people can't be allowed to enter payment agreements who are over a certain income, or who have owed for over a certain amount of time. The city can't afford to be so stupid anymore. Let's collect the $1 billion owed in forfeit bail the same way the bonders do -- repo cars, repo assets, and report this on credit ratings. The city has a duty to do a good job on the basics, otherwise we should be rewarding incompetence on revenue collection and assessments with tax hikes. That's like giving a drug to the addict. Just tell your PA senator NO -- click on the box in the upper right hand corner after putting in your zip: http://www.pasen.gov/

— CleanupPhilly

0 like this / 0 don't • Posted 4:35 PM, 08/17/2009

Council had all last year to implement AVI and change the millage. They fiddled, while the economy burned. The last thing the Senate needs to do is reward them with a sales tax hike. Just say NO: http://www.pasen.gov/

— CleanupPhilly

Comment removed.

Comment removed.

0 like this / 0 don't • Posted 4:43 PM, 08/17/2009

Why do you think the grocery stores don't want to come here, sdls? The costs are higher than they are in other areas, so they shutter their stores here. One of the big items on that list are the taxes, including the sales taxes. We don't need the government to subsidize grocery stores in the inner city, we need local government to decrease the taxes to incentivize chain owners to come here. It's not enough to just have a few "zones" where taxes are forgiven, you have to lower taxes to be competitive.

— CleanupPhilly

0 like this / 0 don't • Posted 4:44 PM, 08/17/2009

12???? is he missing some zeroes???

— moretoit

0 like this / 0 don't • Posted 4:46 PM, 08/17/2009

Gerd is not looking at the numbers. The sales tax will now be more than the surrounding areas. This will devastate sales on taxable large ticket items. You'll have boarded up storefronts just like you see when the city raises the wage tax "just 1%." This is a big amount; it's a behavior-changing break point. Taxes are already maxed out in Philly. There are only cuts, collections, and assessments to be made.

— CleanupPhilly

0 like this / 0 don't • Posted 4:51 PM, 08/17/2009

The sales tax hike bill has to be amended, because if PA is going to let Philly do this, the taxpayer has a right to expect that this is contingent on Philly collecting overdue property taxes by a certain date, collecting forfeit bail by a certain date, taking the BRT out of the Philly School District budget, and other critically needed good government reforms.

— CleanupPhilly

88 comments | View All Comments | View All By Latest

View comments: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | NEXT »

About The Philly Clout Team

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.

Follow Chris on Twitter

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

Follow Dave on Twitter.

Catherine Lucey joined the Daily News in 2002 and has written about murderous drug gangs, political protesters and Harry Potter. After covering the 2007 mayoral election, she moved over to the City Hall bureau where she has been reporting on the Nutter administration.

Follow Catherine on Twitter

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.

Follow Jan on Twitter