Where is Mayor Nutter as budget talks rage on?
As City Council continues to debate an increasingly messy budget, Mayor Nutter is in Orlando, FL for the rest of the week for the annual meeting of the U.S. Conference of Mayors, an organization he is set to take over as president.
Where is Mayor Nutter as budget talks rage on?
Catherine Lucey
As City Council continues to debate an increasingly messy budget, Mayor Nutter is in Orlando, FL for the rest of the week for the annual meeting of the U.S. Conference of Mayors, an organization he is set to take over as president.
Last Thursday, when Council gave preliminary approval to a package of budget bills, Nutter was in Washington DC giving a speech on soda and obesity.
Compare this to last year’s budget cycle, when Nutter physically camped out in Councilman Curtis Jones’ office during the last day of debate to lobby members. But spokesman Mark McDonald said Nutter is actively in touch with members when he’s out of town.
“I think there are many modes of communication and the mayor is in touch with everyone he needs to be,” McDonald said. “He is capable of doing multiple things at once.”
We know Nutter did call all the members who gave preliminary approval to his property tax overhaul last week. And we hear he met with Council President Darrell Clarke yesterday.
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gutless worm thats what that fraud of a mayor is, looking for his next job— nelson van alden- Nutter announced earlier this year that there would be no tax increase this year then let Rob Dubow take all the flak for pushing a $94 million backdoor tax hike. You said Nutter was at the conference Thursday, he was there Friday too tweeting happily about his elbow-rubbing with Chelsea Clinton, as if that impresses anybody other than the 25-year olds that work for him and listen to him do Rapper's Delight 15 times a year. Instead of leaving Rob Dubow to take a beating and Mark McDonald to cover for you, Michael, why don't you man up and stick around and tell us how much you want our tax bills to increase.— bullrun
fiscally this city is burning, and Nero's in Fla. having cocktails and canapés. sadly he won't be unemployed until Jan 2016, so is it too much to ask to have him focus on his day job, and maybe cut some spending so my property taxes don't go up $2,000?
but let's hear ms lucey and the daily news gang keep telling us what a great mayor he is, and how bad john street was (say what you will, he never raised taxes)— barry m goldwater- And because of John Street, we're raising taxes now. John's actually my fraternity brother and I loved him in his first term, but he ate and left us with the bill in his 2nd term. This is what happens when you put band-aids on infected cuts.
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- My bigger beef with the surplus is that I feel like he willingly blinded himself to not only our pension expenses but on school district expenses too. I feel like we're paying for that now.
That said, I know that spending on NTI instead of the more pressing costs was common practice but I feel like that's what got us where we're at now. - Comment removed.
- I want to disagree but I honestly don't know enough about what's going on with pension at the moment to do so. There really hasn't been a lot of recent talk about it though. As far as the school district and SRC, I feel like he brought our debt woes to light. Pass that, I felt like our hands were kind of tied with that one. I would agree though that he could've/should've pushed and watched them more.
At end, I guess the reason I don't trash Nutter so much is because he's not scared of his constituents. More importantly, with the exception of the city's pension fund, he doesn't try to just put a band aid on things. To me, it seems like he really is pursuing viable solutions to a lot of the city's financial woes. Moreover, I feel like he's charged with this because no one really took charge in the past. Our 30yr real estate assessment recess is evident of this. This of course is all just my perspective. - You seem to be completely glossing over how as Councilman Nutter made his popularity by insisting on larger tax cuts than Street preferred, which may have prevented pursuing viable solutions; then once the problems became his it was suddenly tax, tax, and more tax. — bullrun
- @bullrun You're right. Unfortunately, that's how they play the game. Tax cut are all good and well when you're not the one being held accountable for the covering costs. Once you inherit the responsibility though, things change.
- posing his ugly mug for the cameras.— etbarksdale
- First, you can't be mad at the man for networking.....and "looking for his next job." You begin preparing for a promotion the moment you get a job. Second, that's a hell of a position to have associated with Philadelphia. That makes us look good. No complaints here as long as budget talks finish smoothly.
- has nutter laid off one single employee? has nutter hired more deputy mayors than any previous mayor? has nutter raised the sales tax 14%? has nutter raised property taxes twice already, not counting AVI which would double my taxes?
where is nutter on cost control?— barry m goldwater - Nutter has laid off employees and has, as expected, been criticized for it. Nutter has also raised the sales tax and property tax. In doing so, Nutter has also kept the city away from default and has been able to maintain municipal services. A lot of other cities can't say that right now to include New York, Detroit and our neighbors in Camden.
Things that he could do is take it down a notch on the deputy mayor and be more considerate of residents ability to whether his tax storm. Bottom line, however, is when you have expenses, they have to be covered.
