Thursday, March 04, 2010
Chamber Responds to Mayor Nutter’s Budget Proposal
Posted at 2:54 PM
Statement by Rob Wonderling
President & CEO
Greater Philadelphia Chamber of Commerce
The Greater Philadelphia Chamber of Commerce recognizes that the City of Philadelphia, much like our own households and businesses, must take painful steps to balance the budget.
We want to hear more about Mayor Nutter’s proposal to raise revenue through charges on sugary drinks. We recognize how attractive this revenue is and how laudatory its health consequences. However, we will be working with our members as well as City Council to understand this tax’s impact on private sector jobs.
We note that the proposed fee applied to property owners for regular trash pick- up is not unprecedented. Similar fees are charged in some surrounding jurisdictions and the trash still is collected by municipal workers. Also, there is shared pain in the proposed increase: fees on 47,000 small businesses and small residential buildings, which had already been paying $150, would also go up to $300.
We understand the Mayor’s reluctance to propose significant reductions in most city services. However, we note the city’s unrelenting pension obligation that must be met even as revenues falter.
A bright note in the capital budget is a commitment of $120 million over six years for IT spending. We all agree that the city’s current IT in too many aspects is paleolithic at best. Let’s hope improvements will create efficiencies in tax collection and workflow.
We applaud the Mayor’s announcement that scheduled reductions of the business privilege tax and wage taxes will resume in FY14. We urge the Mayor to consider resuming these cuts even sooner, which would surely be a national message of “green shoots” appearing in Philadelphia and the region.
We recognize that this is the beginning of a process in which there will be much debate and discussion. We look forward to working with our elected officials in the coming weeks to assure that the final City budget addresses the problems of this fiscal year but also serves as a roadmap to future growth in jobs and population.