Jill Porter: How the mayor deftly complied with the people's wishes
MAYOR NUTTER PROVED again yesterday that he's a clever guy. The message in his budget speech yesterday was: You (Taxpayers) Asked for It.
MAYOR NUTTER PROVED again yesterday that he's a clever guy.
The message in his budget speech yesterday was: You (Taxpayers) Asked for It.
The subtext of the message: So don't complain.
Yes, there were some boos and shouts of "No! No! No!" and "Don't tax the poor!" in the crowded City Council chambers.
But Nutter said that he was giving citizens what they wanted - and now we have to pay with a hike in sales and property taxes.
He even called it the "People's Budget," which sounds like something out of the Politburo.
Nutter said that the budget blueprint was written in the city's living rooms and kitchen tables and town hall meetings he attended to listen to peoples' concerns.
"We heard you loud and clear," he said, announcing no police or firefighter cuts, no closed libraries, fewer closed swimming pools - all the issues that provoked volcanic tremors when he proposed previous reductions.
And he cleverly channeled the peoples' will in targeting entitlement programs that foment resentment: He proposed prohibiting elected officials from signing up for the DROP Program and asked City Council members to give up their city cars.
Well, good luck to him on that one.
Councilwoman Joan Krajewski whined that he was "picking on City Council."
And Councilman Brian O'Neill said that everybody else in City Hall will have to give up their cars before he'll give up his.
I think he also stamped his feet, put his hands on his hips and said: "So there!" - but maybe I'm confusing that with something I saw on a playground yesterday.
City employees, apparently, shouldn't have to sacrifice, either, based on the union's response to proposed changes in work rules, benefits and pensions.
"City employees, who have given up much in the past, should not be the target of the budget-balancing proposals by the mayor or by the Council," said Cathy Scott, President of AFSCME District Council 47.
The People may have spoken. But now the Other People who actually have to agree to the mayor's proposals will have their say.
My advice to them: Don't ask Nutter why his proposed tax hikes aren't more "broad-based"
I used that word yesterday when I asked why he didn't spread the tax increases around rather than just strap struggling homeowners with a huge - albeit supposedly temporary - property-tax increase.
After all, it seems the wrong moment to put the hurt on rowhouse dwellers who are gagging on AIG and GM. Perhaps spreading the pain around by raising wage and business taxes a little and property taxes a little less, was a legitimate course to consider.
It's a question I suspect that City Council members may even bring up.
"I don't understand," Nutter said in response to my question, furrowing his brow in mock confusion.
The hikes are "broad-based" because they affect every property owner in the city, including commercial property owners, he said - speaking with the exaggerated tolerance of an exasperated parent as we walked from Council chambers on the fourth floor of City Hall to his office on the second floor.
Cutting the wage tax "would be devastating to our economy," he said.
The property tax is "the least onerous tax. It's a well known FACT that [city] property taxes are lower than anywhere else around us and everyone knows it," Nutter lectured.
Then he stopped, put his hands on my shoulders as if I was a misguided child who needed to be made to understand.
"What they said to us is, 'Don't cut our services,' " he said, staring me in the face.
"Nothing in life is free."
I suggest that Nutter contain his pique when dealing with City Council.
I worry that real-estate taxes will push homeowners over the edge and that a sales tax 2 per cent higher than the suburbs will send shoppers over the border.
Those repercussions seem far more immediate and concrete than whatever impact there might be from a modest business- or wage-tax increase.
But we did shriek about keeping services and this is Nutter's way to fund them. Perhaps his proposal should be called the Be Careful What You Ask For budget. Because now it's time to put our money where our mouths are. *
E-mail porterj@phillynews.com or call 215-854-5850. For recent columns: