City Hall Protesters: More Taxes = Open Pools
The Coalition for Essential Services, a group that has been protesting budget cuts, are back in City Hall this morning complaining about plans to keep some public pools closed this summer. The group is holding a protest outside City Council's chambers before the last scheduled meeting before a three-month recess.
The Coalition for Essential Services, a group that has been protesting budget cuts, are back in City Hall this morning complaining about plans to keep some public pools closed this summer. The group is holding a protest outside City Council's chambers before the last scheduled meeting before a three-month recess.
The city, coping with a $1.4 billion gap in the five-year financial plan, is opening 46 of the 73 outdoor public pools this summer. The coalition, which includes members of the city's municipal unions, want all the pools open, no cuts to recreation programs and "fair and just contracts" for city workers.
How to pay for all that? The group has advocated for raising the business privilege tax and wage taxes, ideas that Mayor Nutter and Council didn't go for this year.