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Major cities share Philadelphia's budget woes

If misery does indeed love company, Philadelphians have reason to rejoice with their city's budget woes. They are, it seems, far from alone.

If misery does indeed love company, Philadelphians have reason to rejoice with their city's budget woes.

They are, it seems, far from alone.

Whether it's New York, where they are talking about new taxes on co-op apartments and aviation fuel, or Phoenix, where they have just enacted a 2 percent food tax, the nation's major cities are almost uniformly confronting unprecedented fiscal crises.

Like Philadelphia, those cities are turning to a mix of service cuts and tax hikes to balance the books. Unlike Philadelphia, some are shedding workers.

"A lot of places are struggling," said Larry Eichel, project director of the Pew Charitable Trusts' Philadelphia Research Initiative, which has done two recent reports on how cities are coping with the fiscal crisis.

And that is not going to change anytime soon, according to Mark Muro, a policy director with the Brookings Institution who recently cowrote a study on the "Fiscal Challenges Facing Cities."

In fact, Muro said, the current wave of cuts may soon be seen as "the new norm."

"We have had a calamitous interruption of the standard functioning of the economy that is hitting with a delay at the local level," he said. "The effects on the local tax collections are delayed a year or more. This is the beginning of a tax period that is liable to be with us for several years."

In many other big cities, mayors have used mass layoffs to try to get back in the budget black. Not so in Philadelphia, however, where Mayor Nutter has instead sought personnel savings almost exclusively through reductions in overtime and attrition.

"If we reduce our workforce through attrition, that's preferable to us," said city Finance Director Rob Dubow. "We don't want to put people out on the street if we can avoid it."

The city payroll is now down to 22,488 employees, about 800 fewer than last year and about 2,700 fewer than were on the job 20 years ago.

Muro said Nutter and other civic leaders would need to continue finding creative ways to balance shrinking budgets.

All one needs to do is to look to the nation's other largest cities to see that the fiscal crisis is widespread and the solutions varied.

Here, then, is a snapshot of what is happening elsewhere.

New York: Mayor Michael Bloomberg has proposed a $58.8 billion budget that includes $50 million from a new mortgage-recording tax on cooperative apartments and $169 million from new sales taxes on aviation fuels. An additional $4 million would be raised with a 50-cent hike in commercial parking rates.

Bloomberg's new plan also calls for 934 layoffs and shedding 3,352 jobs through attrition.

Los Angeles: Facing a $700 million deficit through next year, Los Angeles is looking to lay off 4,000 workers, 542 of whom got pink slips yesterday. Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa wants unionized workers, including police officers and firefighters, to consider pay cuts as deep as 15 percent. Some agencies have been shuttered, and library hours have been cut.

Chicago: The city faced a $520 million deficit for 2010 on an almost $6 billion budget. To balance that, Mayor Richard M. Daley used more than $200 million from a reserve fund created by leasing the city's parking meters. Last year, unions representing city workers accepted 24 unpaid furlough days and the elimination of paid city holidays and overtime pay.

Dallas: Last year, the City Council passed a $2.7 billion budget that sharply cut street repairs, library hours, and park services. This year, the city has announced it is looking to close a budget gap in excess of $100 million. Most departments are considering a 30 percent budget cut, while police, fire, and code compliance face a 5 percent cut. Most employees will be asked to take five furlough days.

Houston: The city has a $3 million budget shortfall in its $3.4 billion budget. Its new mayor, Annise Parker, has promised to balance that without layoffs or compromising city services.

Phoenix: The city has a $241 million hole in its $3.6 billion budget. City Manager David Cavazos has proposed cutting 1,379 positions, including nearly 500 police officers and firefighters. Libraries and senior centers would be closed, an after-school program would be dismantled, and bus and light-rail service would be significantly reduced. Last month, City Council adopted a 2 percent tax on food. The tax will bring $62.5 million in revenue.

San Diego: Late last year, the city faced a $179 million midyear deficit in its $2.9 billion budget. It was closed with layoffs of about 200 employees, cuts in police mounted patrols, reduced staffing at some fire stations, a reduction in police canine units, reduced library hours, and elimination of fire rings on city beaches.

San Jose: The city is facing a $100 million deficit in its $3 billion spending plan. San Jose officials are considering a measure to get $5 million more in revenue by expanding the city's two gambling houses. They also plan to seek voter approval for a new quarter-cent sales tax to raise $30 million. City employees are also being asked for concessions. Without new revenue and savings, the city budget director said, the city would have to cut the police and fire department more than 7 percent, and all other departments 35 percent.

San Antonio: In September, the city approved more than $19 million in spending cuts in a $2.3 billion budget, mostly through the elimination of 334 civilian positions, a wage freeze for both uniformed and civilian employees, and reduced library hours.