Freshman 15: 15 ways to save $50 million | Philly

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Monday, October 20, 2008

Freshman 15: 15 ways to save $50 million

City Council members Bill Green, Maria Quiñones-Sanchez, and Curtis Jones Jr.

The City of Philadelphia is facing a budget shortfall of $650 - $850 million over the next five years. Problems in the national economy are trickling down to Broad Street and causing drop off in tax revenue. Mayor Michael Nutter has made clear that everything, from slowing tax cuts to reducing services, is being considered.

Three freshman council-members responded to the crisis by offering a plan to save $50 million without cutting services or slowing tax cuts. In fact, the three council-members say these ideas should be enacted before Nutter considers doing either.

You can read the details of the plan in an op-ed in today's Daily News. What do you think of their ideas? How can the city best deal with the coming budget crisis?

Posted by Ben Waxman @ 9:39 AM Permalink | 1 comment

Comments

Posted 11:50 AM, 10/22/2008

tomzod

This point is not rocket science. Simply put, stop paying " DO NOTHING " assistants like W.Wilson Goode's $ 90'000 a year. Their pay should be no more than half that. Simple, ain't it? Ther are hundreds of better qualified individuals that world love to work for $ 45'000 per year.

1 comments

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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.