Post a commentTHE CITY CAN CUT "GOVERNMENTAL WASTE" BY ELIMINATING THE 7 COUNCILMANIC AT-LARGE SEATS..THE D R O P PROGRAM, CUT CITY COUNCIL AND ALL HIGH RANKING EMPLOYEES SALARIES INCLUDING THE MAYOR BY 25%. ELIMINATE THE USE OF ALL CITY VEHICLES AND GASOLINE FOR NON-ESSENTIAL USE.
I would hope it's less than last year, you close pools,firehouse and cut hours at library's. Still not enough,cut more I can't pay anymore taxes,I am glad Obama is not added any new hidden taxes,that was a joke.Septa will go up, city 1% make it stop.......Vote Democrate
I'm with riogrande1, but they won't do anything that might cut their own wealth, their in politics for themselves not the people they serve.
How can one write an article about the city's fiscal status and not include property tax revenue? It's likely 20% of the city's total budget picture. Revenue from property taxes far exceeds the real estate transfer tax, or some of the business taxes to the city. There is still about $400 million left in overdue property taxes that have not been collected, and there was the suggestion that the city has gotten tough on real estate tax delinquents by certifying certain accounts for sheriff sale and forwarding others to a new private collection agency. What is the projected revenue from those efforts? We can't simply omit a whole line item in the city budget, especially when every owner pays real estate taxes every year, or is supposed to. It's a huge oversight on the part of the paper, and my question is why is this self-censorship the unstated editorial policy at the paper? It's bizarre at best.
If DHS did not get $5 million from DPW then the city should not be spending that money and making up the difference out of general funds. Based on DHS's own data the number of children in foster care is down, the number of families receiving mandatory services - those required by state rules - is down, and the number of reports of abuse/neglect is down. Why did DHS need this money from DPW? Why isn't DHS reducing staff? ---- Over half of the $31 million hole could be eliminated with some of the suggestions mentioned here plus the $5 million from DHS, plus the one measure Nutter can take without negotiation, changing the health benefit contributions from all elected officials and their staff and the city employees who are NOT represented by a union (40% of city workforce) a $25 per month increase yields about a $3 million year saving.
One of the reasons the city's fiscal health is not as poor is because it has gotten real about overdue property taxes. But the city is far from a fair, clear, transparent policy on property tax collection. Some properties are in the hands of private collectors, some are not, and what are the criteria? The public has a right to know, but first we have to persuade the press to even cover overdue property taxes. What city has two papers that simply omit that the city is owed hundreds of millions in overdue property taxes, a $1 billion in forfeit bail, and the like?
You don't have to omit the "at-large" seats to reduce City Council's size. You can consolidate districts. But this not the biggest cost or cost driver in city government. The spending the city does on social programs is by far and away the largest, and often this spending is duplicated and redundant, and very poorly accounted for. As you can see from the article above, the city can't spend stimulus money because they are wholly unable to handle the accounting required to track it. The simple softeware on every home computer the city doesn't use, so it has to get licenses to use this stuff, and then train the staff, yadda yadda. So how well do you think the city is spending what it is spending now? What the city wastes is the stuff it doesn't account for, and no one wants to ask where that spending is, and how to plug the leaks.
A year in and still all these guys can propose is across-the-board cuts. Pathetic.
HEY, the Trash Folks empty Recycle Bins into their trucks, before the recycle trucks arrive. Don't blame people on the street for picking up aluminum cans here and there.
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