Council in Chaos! Soda, property taxes still possible at eleventh hour! Cue Howard Dean scream!

As it prepares to vote on whether to provide additional funding to the school district - and, if so, whether to raise property taxes or implement a tax on sweetened beverages to do it, City Council is in chaos.

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Council in Chaos! Soda, property taxes still possible at eleventh hour! Cue Howard Dean scream!

POSTED: Thursday, June 16, 2011, 5:08 PM
Filed Under: City Council | News | The Mayor

Mayor Nutter's making a list and checking it twice ... thrice ... a fourth time ... a couple more times ... — trying, apparently, to woo one or two more votes for his proposed tax on sweetened beverages before an imminent vote by City Council today.

The vote was put off about fifteen minutes ago while Council members take a recess — another one, that is — to, apparently, negotiate what's going to happen. 

According to sources, the vote has been remarkably fluid all day — it's looked like a proposed property tax hike was the favored measure by Council; then the "soda tax" seemed to be making a comeback.

Even within those choices are more options. It's possible Council would pass a smaller tax on beverages than proposed by the mayor in addition to a smaller property tax hike. It's possible Council will pass neither, and instead focus on finding a way (or leaving it to the Mayor to find a way) to provide funding to the schools some other way.

Council could also choose not to provide extra funding to the schools at all — but such a decision could have serious consequences. If the city is seen as failing to pony up for its own schools, officials in Harrisburg are even less likely to help out.

Follow me on Twitter for updates.

Posted by Isaiah Thompson @ 5:08 PM  Permalink | Post a comment
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