City faces $450 million shortfall | Philly

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Thursday, September 11, 2008

City faces $450 million shortfall

"Everything is on the table." - Mayor Michael Nutter

Link: City finances in trouble, Mayor calls for spending cuts

Link: Mayor Nutter's statement on city finances
Also: Bad news for the budget

Mayor Nutter announced today that the city is facing a major shortfall in revenue. Most of the trouble seems to be coming from the Business Privilege Tax, which came in $34.6 million below projections for this year. This combined with other economic conditions could mean a $450 million hole over five years. Nutter has asked all city departments to develop budgets based on the new numbers. That means cuts for some departments and potential slowing of scheduled tax cuts.

Check out Nutter's statement for all the details. This is a big story and we'll have more analysis from the "It's Our Money" bloggers in the coming days.

Posted by Ben Waxman @ 6:52 PM Permalink | 1 comment

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Posted 07:06 PM, 09/11/2008

Ben Waxman

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Every year, city government spends slightly more than $4 billion. Where does all that money come from? More importantly, where does it go? Are we getting the most bang for our tax buck? “It's Our Money” is a joint project between Philadelphia Daily News and WHYY, funded by the William Penn Foundation, designed to answer these questions.

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FOLLOW THE (LACK OF) MONEY

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Ben Waxman reports and blogs for “It's Our Money.” Before joining “It's Our Money,” he was a regular contributor to the Philadelphia Daily News op-ed page and former contributor to the blog Young Philly Politics. He studied political science at Juniata College in Huntingdon, PA.

Doron Taussig is the Project Manager for “It's Our Money.” He is also a graduate student in communications at Temple University. Previously he worked as a Staff Writer and News Editor for the Philadelphia City Paper.

Dave Merrell is the Web Editor for "It's Our Money." He comes to the project from Philly.com, where he is a web producer. Originally from upstate New York, he moved to Philadelphia after graduating from Haverford College with a degree in math and economics.

Anthony Campisi reports and blogs for "It's Our Money." Originally hailing from Central Jersey, he came to Philadelphia while a student at the University of Pennsylvania, where he studied intellectual history. He also writes about transportation for PlanPhilly, an innovative urban planning website started by PennPraxis, the consulting arm of the Penn School of Design.