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Heard in the Hall

Council in budget chaos

City Council is nowhere on the city's budget.

16 comments

Council in budget chaos

POSTED: Thursday, April 29, 2010, 11:04 AM

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.

Earlier, Councilman Frank DiCicco withdrew a bill he had proposed which would have increased property taxes by 12 percent. It was replaced by a bill offered up on behalf of council's democratic leadership that would raise the real estate tax by nine percent.

But that figure could easily change, moving up or down depending on what mix of cuts or other revenue choices council makes.

Council only has a little over a month left before it must send Nutter a final budget.

Click here for Philly.com's politics page.

16 comments

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Comments (16)

0 like this / 0 don't • Posted 3:50 PM, 04/29/2010

clean-up you seem a bit miffed. don't you know philly gov't or are you just now getting schooled. perhaps it's time for you to move before you blow a gasket

— phillyfansrdumb

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0 like this / 0 don't • Posted 1:16 PM, 04/29/2010

Is raising taxes the only option? Getting rid of patronage has never been on the table. This shows who rules here. It's not the government. It's the Dem party honchos.

— DonQ

0 like this / 0 don't • Posted 1:04 PM, 04/29/2010

Philadelphia City Council is the Worst Legislative Body in the Free World. Hands Down, Class Over, You All Fail.

— Mackey Dingo

0 like this / 0 don't • Posted 12:59 PM, 04/29/2010

sell the 35,000 vacant properties to China. Then tax them.

— Ed Sullivan

0 like this / 0 don't • Posted 12:30 PM, 04/29/2010

i listened to the whole council session on the radio toady....O'Neil was saying that the bill should be withdrawn because its pretty much known by everyone in council that it doesnt have the votes to pass. "deader than dead" was his term. another councilman in support of withdrawing the bill said it best, "why waste time" it has no legs and there is no further point in debate. in all of the speeches made in opposition to removal of the bill noone ever stated that THEY would actually vote for the soda tax....just that the procedure wasnt being followed and there should be some respect given to the councilwoman Tasco who originated the bill but wasnt present today to defend it. they are wasting time and they dont have a lot more of it left....same ole' philly

— IcanTakeit

0 like this / 0 don't • Posted 12:28 PM, 04/29/2010

90% of city council members are criminals. what do we have to do to get the feds in here?

— yawns

0 like this / 0 don't • Posted 12:06 PM, 04/29/2010

Brian O'Neill for mayor. At least he is trying to bring some sanity to the asylum.

— psyrus

0 like this / 0 don't • Posted 12:04 PM, 04/29/2010

The reason is that there are people on council who could not pass a GED class right now let alone understand college level economics. That is the problem, but then again Philadelphia as a city has one of the lowest rates of residents with college degrees so they are very representative of the electorate. Once again, you get what you deserve when you elect people based on things like "well he grew up in the neighborhood." Yeah the neighborhood that is crumbling with atrocious schools and idiots running around killing one another...

— Grill

0 like this / 0 don't • Posted 11:55 AM, 04/29/2010

Philadelphia magazine hit it right on the head "they are one of the most useless legislative bodies in the country" referring to Philadelphia's city council. It is past time for these buffoons to take a hike. lets elect some people who care about revitalizing this city and not just their friends and families.

— bobg1812