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Archive: May, 2010
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Update: Well this is what I get for not checking my feeds before pounding the keys:
Read more about this at It's Our Money, Philly Clout, and Heard in the Hall.
According to various sources in City Hall, including Councilmen Frank DiCicco and Jim Kenney, members of the beverage industry have offered Mayor Michael Nutter $10 million toward obesity programs in exchange for his letting go of a proposed tax on sweetened beverages.
In addition, DiCicco said an offer was brewing from members of the soda industry to provide $10 million over two years to the city for health and wellness programs. He said those funds -- which would be provided if the proposed soda tax goes away -- could also help bridge the gap.
According to the mayor's office, it's not going to work. In an email about half an hour ago, spokesman Doug Oliver told CP:
The City would not accept an offer of $10m from the beverage association. It would not provide the City with the revenue it needs over the life of the five-year plan.
What does all of this mean?
On the one hand, there's the fiscal side of things: the mayor's proposed tax of 2 cents per ounce is supposed to raise about $77 million a year, $20 million of which would go to anti-obesity efforts; although they expect only about half of that, $38.6 million, in the first year. By those calculations, the mayor's right. A one-time $10 million gift, especially if it goes entirely to anti-obesity programs, doesn't balance our budget.
BUT
Finance Director Rob Dubow told Councilman Bill Green today that none of those proceeds would go toward anti-obesity programs this year.
And sources in City Hall say the administration has been bargaining around not two cents per ounce, but three-quarters of a cent, maybe even as low as half a cent per ounce meaning the revenue could be as low as $14M or less for the first year and somewhere around 28.8 million in following years, by my calculation. With that revenue cut in half, how much, if any, will actually go to fight obesity?
Which makes this situation a little complicated: Mayor Nutter's refusal to take the $10 million could be seen as principled, yet without it or, rather, if he has to compromise his tax too much to get it passed it's not clear whether there will be any new anti-obesity funding at all.
Both the soda industry and Mayor Nutter appear to be fighting a symbolic battle, at least to some extent.
The industry likely opposes his tax and is willing to pay him $10M to kill it not so much because of what it'll do to them here, but because Mayor Nutter may be paving the way for similar taxes elsewhere (perhaps statewide taxes; perhaps a federal tax).
And it's precisely because he's paving the way, say many sources in Council, that Mayor Nutter is fighting so hard to keep this tax alive. He's staked no little reputation on being one of the first mayors to pull off such a tax.
In a marathon session, City Council moved ahead on a 9.9 percent property tax hike, a tax on smokeless tobacco and cigars, and withheld a bill that would impose the mayor's baby: the sweetened beverage tax.
It seemed earlier in the day like that tax was going to pass but Council leadership was unable, apparently, to muster the nine votes needed. The administration, however, hasn't given up on the soda tax by a long shot.
Councilman Frank DiCicco, who proposed the first property tax hike as an alternative to a flat $300 trash fee, voted "no" on the 9.9 percent hike today, favoring a 12.1 percent property tax hike that would have made up most of the difference.
Council also approved a spending bill with about $17 million in cuts, disappointing Councilman Bill Green, who has proposed more than $40 in cuts himself, mostly by not filling unfilled positions.
Right now, Council will have to find about $18 million more in revenue or in cuts.
These bills have just passed first reading they'll need to pass again next week to become law.
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More budget coverage on Twitter.
This morning, the regular meeting of City Council was suspended in order to hear speakers on various revenue proposals being floated by Council and the administration, including a property tax hike between 9.9 percent and 12 percent, a sugar-sweetened beverage tax (between, apparently, half a cent and two cents), and a tax on smokeless tobacco products and cigars.
The plan seems to be this:
After this hearing, Council leadership will meet with the administration and try to hammer out a deal. Council needs nine votes to pass it, but the final votes on this stuff aren't usually quite that close: leadership would like to get 11.
Assuming it happens, Council will reconvene its regular meeting, amend the bills that constitute the mayor's initial budget proposal, and allow the revised budget a first reading and initial vote which will let them vote it in finally next week.
So what's the deal going to be? Not totally clear yet. A new proposal of a 12 percent increase to the property tax seems to be gaining some traction. It would close most of the current budget gap and likely obviate the need for other taxes. Councilman Frank DiCicco, about an hour ago, seemed to voice support for it, saying:
"We're going to take a political hit no matter what we do ... I say take the 12.10 [property tax hike] and not worry about the other taxes because we can't get the nine votes anyway."
However, it seems to be up in the air still whether Mayor Nutter is willing to drop his sugary beverage tax or not he's staked some political capital on it, and has received national attention for the proposal.
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| Courtesy of Pennsylvania DCNR |
When City Paper's Isaiah Thompson wrote a bang-up piece on companies drilling for natural gas in the Marcellus Shale, and the environmental and political concerns that go along with it, a brilliant commenter named "Why Whyserson" said thusly: "This would be an important story in Philadelphia if they were drilling in Fairmount Park."
As it turns out, it's not as easy as that. (Can you believe someone commenting on a website oversimplified things?!) If companies drill in the Delaware River Basin, aka our watershed, this indeed will be quite an important story in Philly and in fact, conservation officials say that about 300 square miles of watershed land have already been leased.
All of these details can get rather complicated, which is why Damascus Citizens for Sustainability is hosting a lecture titled "Gas Mining: What is there to be worried about?" tonight from 7 to 9 p.m., at the Blauvelt Theatre at the Friends Select School (17th Street and Ben Franklin Parkway). It will address how drilling could affect Philly's water, and what City Council and citizens can do. Mr. Whyserson, why not join us?
Goodness gracious, I am so upset I missed that but I was scubadiving in the Gulf of Mexico until about 9:30. Does Damascus Citizens for Sustainability have a mailing list? God forbid I miss their next lecture. Do I have to be Syrian to join?
Whats the best place to eat on City Line Ave. or close by?
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Askadelphia runs on Facebook Connect.
This weekend, CP senior writer/resident rapscallion Isaiah Thompson will have a story on public radio's This American Life. Yes, it's a big freaking deal.
It'll air on WHYY at noon on Sunday.
Can't wait that long? Well, if you have "the Internet," you can listen via live stream. Check publicradiofan.com for real-time streaming schedules. The show's first airing will be tonight, Friday, at 8:00 P.M. (East Coast time) on Chicago's WBEZ.
[...] Dutifully switched on This American Life last night to hear CP’s Isaiah Thompson fulfill his lifelong dream of participating in the public radio program (and meeting Ira Glass, to boot). Not for nothing, the story about a group of ex-sex offenders [...]
Who has the best prices/selection for take-out 6 packs of beer in center city?
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Askadelphia runs on Facebook Connect.
Okay, if movies have taught me one thing, it's that robots will soon become sentient beings and kill us all. It's the reason I don't trust Roombas and it's the reason this ad creeps me the fuck out. Pay your taxes, or Pennsylvania (or should I say Skynet?) will find you.
(h/t Meg)
Creepy... and effective. I've already paid my taxes, but I'm considering sending another check, just to keep them from vaporizing my home.
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| Courtesy of philly.com |
Last night, Ballard Spahr released its investigative report of Lower Merion School District's laptop tracking program the one involving Blake Robbins, if you recall.
You can click here to download a PDF of the whole 72-page doozy. Or, if that's not your jam, check back on Thursday for City Paper's highlights of the report.
PREVIOUSLY>> Webcam-gate, now with pictures!
PREVIOUSLY>> Inky: Laptop family lives in Main Line mansion, doesn't like to pay the power bill
PREVIOUSLY>> Blake Robbins' crime? Popping Mike-and-Ike's, he says.
[...] Read the Webcam-gate report in its entirety :: The Clog :: Blog Archive :: Staff Blog :: Philadelphi... [...]
[...] Read the Webcam-gate report in its entirety :: The Clog :: Blog Archive :: Staff Blog :: Philadelphi... [...]
[...] Read the Webcam-gate report in its entirety :: The Clog :: Blog Archive :: Staff Blog :: Philadelphi... [...]
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In the last two weeks, in the wake of Ralph Cipriano's April 22 cover story on the city's Deferred Retirement Option Plan (DROP), "The Billion-Dollar Boondoggle," the local media has piled on. The Inquirer called for the end of DROP in an editorial called "DROP is bad all over." The Daily News' Signe Wilkinson lambasted City Council and its president, Anna Verna, in an editorial cartoon. The DN also mentioned DROP in an odd editorial, "The big lie isn't DROP," claiming that the "double dip" is not the biggest of the city's pension worries (without exactly explaining why DROP isn't a big POTP). But nobody's been quite so enthusiastic in its DROP-kicking as Fox29, which has run multiple segments on the program, starting with this one and including the videos linked above and after the jump.
Two points:
- Fox29 seems fixated on the elected official angle which is, granted, the easiest to work up a lather about (though that loophole has been closed for future elected officials) but what Cipriano's piece points out is that while the DROP bonuses of high-ranking officials are the easiest to pin a bullseye on, it's the sheer number of people (all city employees are eligible) receiving smaller DROP bonuses that really seem to endanger the pension system.
- Kerri Lee Halkett's Boondagle/Boondoogle slip up in the video above is awesome stuff.
PREVIOUSLY >>> Cipriano talks DROP on Fox29.
PREVIOUSLY >>> Inky big-ups Cipriano's DROP investigation
[...] Fox29 goes DROP crazy :: The Clog :: Blog Archive :: Staff Blog … Advertising watchdog asks Time Warner Cable, Cox to drop claims …A Drop of True Blood, Jessica Style - TV FanaticReflections of a Newsosaur: Newspaper ad drop eased sharply in Q1AIR DROP C-130 HERCULES FAV HIATI | Military Videos at DefenseTalkTime Warner Cable, Cox asked to drop ad claims (AP …Netanyahu "to persuade Egypt to drop proposal for nuclear-free zone"Free Market is not a license to steal! « EideardDecision on funding extension for Our Space drop-in centre delayed …RegexAdvice - Newbie that needs help with a String checkHow do you steal the Golden Llama in City Hall in Sims3? View the Contact Powered by Type [...]
[...] Fox29 goes DROP crazy :: The Clog :: Blog Archive :: Staff Blog … [...]
[...] Fox29 goes DROP crazy :: The Clog :: Blog Archive :: Staff Blog … [...]
[...] Fox29 goes DROP crazy :: The Clog :: Blog Archive :: Staff Blog … [...]
[...] Fox29 goes DROP crazy :: The Clog :: Blog Archive :: Staff Blog … [...]
[...] Fox29 goes DROP crazy :: The Clog :: Blog Archive :: Staff Blog … [...]
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