2:15 -- Council's still not ready to vote and so they have recessed the hearing while they deal with their normal Thursday session. This is going to take even longer than we thought.
1:20 -- We hear that Council is working on a package of schools aid that could include a 3 to 3.5 percent property tax hike, a temporary 1 cent soda tax and a $10 million reduction from the city fund balance. In all they might be able to get $75 million for schools. But this is all still very fluid.
12:20 -- Ok, Council's hearing is over and they have recessed to talk about what to do behind closed doors. We hear the Mayor is very close to 9 votes for the soda tax, but it's not definite yet.
11:14 -- Adding to the general merriment, recent mayoral candidate T. Milton Street is up at the mike. He's talking about his time in the state legislature.
"I will tell you hear today without fear of any successful contradiction, until we put on the table some comprehensive plan to stem the violence in these schools, you're going to have a difficult time getting significant money out of Harrisburg," Street said.
"I listened to the mayor last night, it was very disheartening," Street said. "This city can't afford any more taxes."
11:06 -Debate continues up here. The administration brought in a series of top officials to testify about the cuts that would happen if Council moved money out of the projected fund balance to aid the schools.
Deputy Mayor for public safety Everett Gillison said urged Council not to take from the fund balance adding it would prevent the implementation of a police class. Additionally, he said cuts to the prison system is "not feasible" due to anticipated population levels and mandated service they are set to provide.
10:20 -- The Nutter administration is now on the stand and Council is questioning Finance Director Rob Dubow. Councilman Bill Green noted that soda bottlers have threatened to move operations outside the city if the soda tax passes.
"You're tell businesses one at a time that we're not a business friendly city," Green said.
Dubow responded that it was impossible to predict what would happen to soda-related jobs, while over at the school district, pink slips have already been sent out.
"We know that if we put money back into the district, there will be jobs saved," Dubow said.
9:50 -- School students and advocates have taken over the hallway outside Council chambers where they are singing and chanting. Meanwhile, Council is listening to testimony from opponents of the tax and schools advocates.
Among the speakers was Republican mayoral candidate Karen Brown, who opposes new taxes. ""Tugging at the hearts of the parents while robbing their purses has become a standard of this administration," Brown said.
9:20 -- It's crunch time up in City Council today, where they are set to resume hearings on Mayor Nutter's proposals to tax soda or raise real estate taxes to provide more money for schools.
Nutter yesterday took to the airwaves with a televised address on 6ABC, pleading Council to approve more tax revenues for the district, which faces a $629 million funding gap for the fiscal year that starts July 1.
There appears to be zero appetite on Council to do anything on property taxes and so far Nutter hasn't been able to nail down nine votes for the 2 cent per ounce soda tax, which is his preference. A massive coalition of union labor, business owners and soda industry advocates have aligned against the tax.
Just a few minutes ago, soda mogul Harold Honickman, owner of the Canada Dry Bottling Co. in Pennsauken, NJ, paid a visit to Council President Anna Verna.
"We still think the tax is a discriminatory tax on the poor and the middle class," said Honickman, who said he couldn't predict how Council would vote.
Chambers are packed with opponents of the soda tax and schools advocates. According to Council insiders, there's still interest in a deal that would provide the district with about $40 million in funds without raising taxes, through some city cuts, increasing fees on parking meters and reducing the city's surplus fund balance.
Councilman Bill Greenlee said it seemed like there was consensus growing around such a plan.
"We have to work with the resources we have," said Greenlee.
This is going to be a long day.