To spare services, Mayor Michael Nutter is proposing tax increases. He came to Marian Rec to preview his 2010 budget.
Mayor Michael Nutter announced a proposed sales tax increase at Marian Anderson Recreation Center last week. (Staff Photo by Greg Bezanis)
Mayor Michael Nutter has vowed not to layoff police or firefighters and to keep many services intact and he has ways to raise the funds to do so.
The 2010 budget has had input from Town Hall meetings, including one at South Philadelphia High School in late November, to community forums such as the one at St. Monica's Feb. 19, where residents gave the mayor their thoughts on what should and should not be cut. The level of input is unprecedented and the budget is stronger and better for it, Nutter said.
"Citizens have spoken loud and clear about the things they care about -- that they want us to look after those who are the most vulnerable among us," he said outside Marian Anderson Recreation Center March 18, citing the facility as an example of what will be salvaged by not cutting services. "You said you want us to do all that we can to ensure that our kids have safe places to go to learn and to play, to ensure that we take care of people who need essential health care to provide a safe, dry, warm place to those who are without homes. Once again, I have heard you.
"This is a prime example of what we are protecting and investing. This center has hundreds of kids enrolled in baseball, boxing, soccer, swimming and other after-school programs including their basketball team, who I heard just won their league championship."
Standing on the pitcher's mound of the baseball field outside the rec center at 744 S. 17th St., Nutter gave a preview of his March 19 budget proposal by vowing not to close libraries or rec and health centers. Instead of cutting beds in emergency housing, he proposes adding 700 more and, due to the $540,000 raised by donations to the Splash Fund, 36 more pools will open this summer with at least four in each council district, raising the total to 46 -- two more than anticipated, Nutter said. Local pools on the chopping block, Department of Recreation Commissioner Susan Slawson said in November, included Marian Anderson; Barry, 18th and Bigler streets; Chew, 19th Street and Washington Avenue; Stinger Square, 32nd and Dickinson streets; O'Connor, 23rd and South streets; Vare, 26th and Morris streets; Ford, Seventh Street and Snyder Avenue; Hawthorne, 13th and Christian streets; and Sacks, Fourth Street and Washington.
However, to keep these services going, a tax hike will soon be on the table.
After an earlier announcement calling for a temporary two-year property tax increase that would generate $272 million, Nutter said he would like to raise the city sales tax 1 percent taking it to 8 percent.
"This is a penny with a purpose and the purpose is to protect the vital services that the citizens of Philadelphia want and more importantly that they need," Nutter said last week, adding the raise will expire after three years.
Mayor Michael Nutter greets a member of the Service Employees International Union during last week's press conference at Marian Anderson Rec Center. (Staff Photo by Greg Bezanis)
The increase would generate $340 million over three years and exempts items not covered by the state sales tax, such as groceries, clothing and medicine, he said. The proposal would need state approval as would the reconfiguration of the city's pension fund that would push payments of its 55-percent unfunded liability over 40 years, instead of 20 years, saving $332 million over five years.
"We've been in touch with the governor's office and the leaders in the General Assembly, expressed not only our interest, but our need in this particular regard," Nutter said of the changes. "The state is just starting its budget process, but the leadership is certainly understanding of our request and they have pledged to work with us to try to be as helpful as possible."
While he doesn't think pools or libraries should be on the chopping block, Michael Haines disagrees with the tax hike.
Trying to get the City on board with its citizens on the budget since last year, Harris Sokoloff and the Penn Project for Civic Engagement finally got its wish. "We never left them alone," Penn Project Director Sokoloff said. "We said, 'are you ready now?' And they finally said, 'yes.'"
Of the 10 largest U.S. cities, Philadelphia is ranked as the poorest. It also has the highest rate of obesity among the nation’s largest cities, according to the city’s Deputy Mayor for Health and Opportunity and Health Commissioner Don Schwartz.
Before Mayor Michael Nutter took the stage, the few hundred who gathered at City Hall's courtyard last week chanted "No budget cuts." "I agree with you," he shouted back.
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