Senate GOP Wants To Delay City Budget Deadline

Here's a bit of follow-up documentation for today's story about two key issues for the city budget, now awaiting action in the state Senate.  Senate Majority Leader Dominic Pileggi, a Delaware County Republican, yesterday sent a letter to the Pennsylvania Intergovernmental Cooperation Authority, asking its chairman to extend by one month its deadline for the General Assembly to approve the city's budget measures.

The city has asked the General Assembly to approve a 1-cent increase in the local sales tax and changes in how the pension plan is replenished.  Without those measures, worth $700 million in the five-year financial plan, the city will eliminate 3,000 jobs, including the posts for hundreds of cops and firefighters.  PICA wants them approved by Saturday or the city will be required to submit its fallback budget by Aug. 31.  Pileggi, who is calling several other bills up for votes this week, says it "is not feasible" that the city's legislation will be approved by Saturday and wants the deadline pushed back until Sept. 15.

Pileggi's office also sent out a news release yesterday, saying the first of two public hearings on the city's legislation would be held tomorrow, with a follow-up next week.  That means the legislation could be called up for a full vote by the Senate by Aug. 26.  And that means the city might not be forced to put the fallback budget in play by Aug. 31.

Pileggi told PhillyClout yesterday that all that depends on legislators setting aside partisanship to work on the legislation.  He said that after Senate Democrats held a news conference to say the GOP was potentially risking the lives of city police officers if the fallback budget is used.  Pileggi also blamed the Democrats for moving too slow on the city's legislation.  And while everyone is finger-pointing and placing blame, a group of local political activists are on their way to Pileggi's Delaware County district for a noon budget rally while a local blogger is pushing a petition to stall a soccer stadium project there.