The state-appointed board that oversees Philly's finances unanimously approved Mayor Nutter's five-year plan today, despite calls to reject the plan from the city controller and the board's own staff.
Members of the Pennsylvania Intergovernmental Cooperation Authority, or PICA, spent an hour questioning the administration about low fund balances in the out years of the plan and about unresolved labor disputes. But in the end, they voted 5-0 to approve the plan.
PICA Chairman Sam Katz said earlier this year that he would vote against the plan if Nutter did not resolve disputes with the city's major unions, three of which have been working without contracts since 2009.
Also this year, the administration budgeted some money for unresolved contracts with the city's two major bargaining units of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees. Those amounts, based on the administration's last positions in negotiations, are still well below what the unions are hoping to get.
Hopkins was not renominated by state Senate Democratic Leader Jay Costa despite serving less than one full term. Sources told the People Paper earlier this year that the Nutter administration asked that Hopkins be removed from the board.
Katz said that while he has major concerns about the plan, they did not justify withholding $350 million in state aid and sending the city's finances into a tailspin.