Archive: April, 2010
Patrick Kerkstra
One-third of Heard in City Hall was on Radio Times this morning to talk about the city's budget, the Board of Revision of Taxes and other items in the news. You can catch an MP3 of the show here.
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Patrick Kerkstra
The way pollsters ask their questions can make a huge difference in how respondents answer. The questions used in the poll released today showing some reasonable levels of public support for an increase in sugar sweetened drinks seem pretty straightforward and fair, but judge for yourself below.
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STC Philly SSB Tax Survey Topline
Patrick Kerkstra
City Council is nowhere on the city's budget.
A floor debate now underway on council floor over the fate of the proposed tax sugary sweetened makes that perfectly clear.
For weeks, it has seemed the sugary drinks tax was dead. But when Councilman Brian O'Neill proposed formally killing the legislation minutes ago, a host of council members protested, saying it was premature and irresponsible to take that off the table. So O'Neill backtracked, and withdrew his motion, only to suggest moments later that Nutter's proposed garbage fee ought to be formally killed as well. He withdrew that notion too.
From a practical point of view, the debate meant little. But it served to underscore the total lack of budget consensus on Council at the moment.
Patrick Kerkstra
A poll of 400 Philadelphia likely voters commissiond by coalition of anti-obesity organizations found that 53 percent of voters would support the two-cents-per-ounce tax on sugary drinks proposed by Mayor Nutter, so long as some of the funds raised were used for anti-obesity programs.
The poll found that the proposed soda tax - which appears to have nowhere near enough support in City Council to pass - is a somewhat more popular option than the other revenue raising options the city is considering this budget cycle, such as higher property taxes, a garbage collection fee or adjustments to the business privelege tax.
It is not clear the poll will revive the soda tax's political prospects.
Click here for Philly.com's politics page.
Patrick Kerkstra
By all accounts, Mayor Nutter's proposed tax on sugary drinks and garbage fee are going nowhere in City Council.
So why not declare them formally dead, Councilman Bill Green wonders?
He considered this morning seeking a formal discharge of the two tax bills, which were introduced by Councilwoman Marian Tasco at Nutter's request. Green's view is that the two tax proposals have become something of a pointless distraction, since they are no longer viable. So why not discharge them and move on? That rarely used parliamentary procedure would have formally killed the bills. At Tasco's request, however, Green is holding off. Tasco is not in council today.
Click here for Philly.com's politics page.
Patrick Kerkstra
From this morning's Philadelphia Inquirer, a look at some pension program changes the Nutter administration would like to make. The first few paragraphs can be seen below.
As part of its push to reduce the city's long-term pension costs, the Nutter administration will ask City Council on Thursday to take up legislation revamping retirement benefits for a class of about 5,000 municipal workers not represented by unions.
The proposed changes - which include the creation of a voluntary 401(k)-type plan and higher employee contribution rates for those who opt to stay in the city's pension plan - would apply only to new hires, not current workers.
So there is unlikely to be much in the way of budget savings for the city, at least at first. But the Nutter administration contends the proposal has the potential for significant long-term savings, particularly if large numbers of employees opt to sign up for a 401(k)-type defined contribution plan instead of the traditional pension.
Patrick Kerkstra
Mayor Nutter said he was "deeply concerned" about the sale of the Inquirer and Daily News to its creditors this afternoon, and he called on the new owners to preserve the Daily News and take the need for quality journalism into account when making business decisions in the months ahead.
"Certainly it is my hope that after all the financial side of this is looked at and analyzed that real newspaper people, folks who value the quality of what the Daily News, the Inquirer and Philly.com have brought to this city and region," are consulted, Nutter said.
He called on the new owners to make decisions "based on great journalism and what it takes to run a great news enterprise as opposed to just the financial end and what the bean counters might care about."
The mayor also called on the lenders to preserve the Daily News. Some have speculated that the tabloid - which claimed a Pulitzer Prize two weeks ago - could be on the chopping block.
Patrick Kerkstra
The Pennsylvania Supreme Court today refused to strike from the May 18 primary ballot a charter change that - if approved by voters - would abolish the Board of Revision of Taxes.
The ruling, which the court issued without comment, means it is almost certain that voters will have the chance to weigh in on the BRT's fate next month.
The BRT's suit contended that the city lacked the authority to completely dismantle the seven-member board. It argues that the state legislature specifically vested assessment appeals powers with the BRT, and required that BRT leaders be appointed by the city's judiciary.
The proposed charter change would dismantle the BRT and split it into two new agencies: an office of property assessment under the indirect control of the mayor, which would set property values, and an independent board to hear property assessment appeals.
Patrick Kerkstra
Deep in this story from the Chicago Sun-Times you can find mention of what Mayor Nutter is up to today, appearing at the annual Global Cities Forum organized by Chicago Mayor Richard J. Daley.
Click herefor Philly.com's politics page.
Jeff Shields
The Nutter administration plans to submit legislation to eliminate the Clerk of Quarter Sessions position in the next two weeks, Deputy Mayor for Public Safety Everetty Gillison said Tuesday.
Current Clerk of Quarter Sessions Vivian T. Miller resigned effective March 31 following intense criticism of both the performance of and the need for the office. On April 1 Mayor Nutter announced that the duties of the office would be transferred to the city's prothonotary, but he did not show his hand at the time about the future of the $117,991-a-year position.
Tuesday afternoon, in budget testimony before Council, Gillison said he hoped to have a bill ready within the next 10 days, would would be in time for the May 6 Council meeting.
"“This is one of these anachronisms that need to go away,” Gillison said.
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