As the deadline approaches, controversy and disagreement characterize budget proposals for 2005 in Philadelphia.
Last Thursday, the City Council -- which must approve a budget by its June 30 summer break -- met and voted on tax-cut reforms to Philadelphia Mayor John F. Street's proposed budget for 2005.
In May, Street rejected a similar budget plan that Council offered, which would have cost the city $300 million.
When the $3.4 billion budget was originally announced by Street in March, City Council voted to add bills from the Tax Reform Commission that would lower wage and business taxes for the city.
These tax-cuts aimed to put the brakes on Philadelphia's troubling and long-running trend of job and population loss. They were also attempts to make the city more worker-friendly and draw in outsiders.
However, the $300 million price tag attached to these measures proved unjustified to Street, who called them "completely and totally irresponsible," in an interview with The Philadelphia Inquirer, and vetoed them soon after they were proposed.
Street also said that the cuts would force the city to make dramatic decreases in the service sector, potentially laying off over 900 city workers and 600 police officers.
Council's most recent revision of the plan decreases the cost of the tax cuts to approximately $160 million, most of which would go toward cutting the business-privilege tax.
Representatives from City Council are unsure whether or not Street will accept the revised set of reforms.
The conflict over Philadelphia's budget "is a struggle, which involves the age-old political question of whether you play safe in the short-term or look at the mess around you and throw the Hail Mary," political analyst Larry Ceisler wrote in a recent column.
Ceisler also implicated Council, adding that "at least six Council members have interest in running for Mayor."
The proposed budget plans both consisted of renewing funding to the Art Museum, the Free Library of Philadelphia and other recreational centers.
