Nutter's voodoo budget

Mayor Nutter is a genius.

I never thought I would say that without crossing every extremity that still works, but there is no other conclusion.

It took him a while, but he has finally figured out the secret ingredient in the city that doesn't expect anything - style over substance, every time, all the time.

By shoveling snow with the cameras rolling, he won the battle of snow removal, regardless of how much was actually removed or not. He has gone back more firmly to the roots that got him elected - ABS (Anyone but Street) smile and don't glower when you have to be solemn.

John Street was a much better mayor than Nutter is or ever will be. His focus on ravaged neighborhoods paid off as much as any focus can when there are no miracles. Center City continued to glow. He knew more about Philadelphia government than any man alive.

But never have I seen a human being who went so unfortunately out of his way to be remote, resistant, removed, repulsed by the sight of others. The scent of corruption, although none of it was remotely proved in his own case, also lingered around him like garbage because of a federal investigation.

But thanks to Nutter and the political joke of a budget he publicly introduced yesterday, Street will be able to remove that stench for the price of $300 a year.

Times are still terrible economically. The city has a deficit of $150 million. The answer is obvious - municipal workers, like everyone else in a dying America, either have to take wage cuts or be laid off or a combination of both.

The city has shed jobs under Nutter through attrition, and overtime is down. But according to a report by Pennsylvania Intergovernmental Cooperation Authority, city staffing at the end of fiscal 2010 may well rise to its highest level since 2004, with 23,244 positions.

Unlike virtually every other big-city mayor, Nutter refuses to lay off workers or maintain the hard line on wages. Even supposedly sacrosanct police officers can be let go: New York reduced the size of its force 17 percent over the last 10 years and still experienced record drops in crime.

Budgets, of course, are not budgets. They are political documents, and Nutter's does not include any raises for firefighters and blue-collar and white-collar workers, which seems a mockery given the raises for the police. It means the budget deficit is likely to be far more than projected.

What he has come up with is a voodoo solution that he knows will have trouble flying, which I don't think he'll mind, since it puts other city politicians on the defensive.

The only thing I routinely expect from the city in return for the obscene taxes I pay is garbage pickup. It is insulting when he says that Philadelphians are under the impression they get it for free, and his proposal of a $300 yearly fee is not a fee, but an added-on property tax. If it is truly a fee, then citizens should also have a right not to pay it and to find cheaper alternatives.

As for the soda tax, please don't lump this under some greater-good health issue of lowering obesity. Unlike cigarettes, there is no proof that sodas are addictive. In this day and age where everybody is a victim, I have come up with a novel solution for those who are fat - put less into your mouth.

If Nutter is going to push for a soda tax, why not a doughnut tax, and a bagel tax, and a cheesesteak tax, and given his high-and-mighty morality, a politicians-having-extramarital-trysts tax (probably the biggest potential revenue producer of all)?

Nutter has the political acumen to know that the new taxes are tenuous. But he has very cleverly thrown the onus on City Council, which has to approve the measures. If it does not, he can say that he has no choice but to lay off workers, or to raise taxes, and it is Council's fault.

Even those close to him say he is missing an opportunity to truly do something. He is popular. He is going to be reelected. To give him his due, the results of the recent arbitration with the city's police officers will eventually gain the city tens of millions of savings in health-care and pension costs. It has been hailed as a national precedent.

He also got the police union to agree to furloughs. But the price was enormous. The police got 3 percent-a-year raises over the next two years that they are not entitled to in today's economic times.

Far more catastrophic was the loosening of the residency requirement. It will create havoc in the city's Catholic schools, since so many police officers send their children there; depopulate the Great Northeast into Northeast Dakota; and, worst of all, foster an atmosphere in which cops do their jobs with minimum obligation because they no longer have any vested interest in the city. It also means that every other city worker will get a similar package.

Several days ago, I saw a proposal sent out by the city for $1.2 million for a public-relations firm to manage a smoking-cessation program. The money is coming from the federal government's stimulus package, and the argument will be the usual, "Hey, it's not our money, and we might as well spend it."

The city might actually say there is a better way to utilize $1.2 million. Maybe in a lottery in which 4,000 lucky homeowners won't have to pay new taxes for having their garbage removed.

Unless, of course, it's all a subterfuge to force someone else to confront the necessary dirty work of significantly cutting the city workforce. But because it's Council, don't get too excited.

Which is why Nutter is a genius.

Which is why he is a coward.