Earlier today, “It’s Our Money” reported that Willie Brown, president of the Transport Workers Union Local 234 – the guys on strike – had told reporters that Mayor Nutter was “cut off” from future negotiations:

Nutter “has brought nothing� to the table, Brown said, adding, “I will not meet him� because of the attacks the mayor has leveled at the union.

About half an hour ago, Office of the Mayor Press Secretary Doug Oliver emailed me the following statement, reprinted here in its entirety:

The Mayor was only involved because he was asked to participate in the discussions.  To the extent that his participation is helpful, he’s willing to participate.  If his participation is problematic, he’s willing to stay out of the discussions.  It’s always been the Mayor’s position that his number one obligation is to the 1.5 million people who are trying to manage their way through this TWU strike.

There should be no reason why the negotiations can’t move forward.  But with a deal like the one that was offered (11% wage increases over five years and no increase in contributions to healthcare) during a time when so many people are taking pay decreases and even losing their jobs, one can’t help but wonder why a deal wasn’t struck already.  Again, if the absence of the Mayor is the only thing needed to strike a deal, the Mayor is more than happy to allow the negotiations to continue without his involvement.

Now, I’m still pretty new in town, so I might not have a perfect feel for how these things work up here. That said, I’ve been around enough union negotiations to begrudgingly admire the insane, ballsy, never-gonna-happen tack the Transit Workers Union Local 234 took yesterday, when it announced that maybe, just maybe, it would strike at the end of this week, which — hey wouldn’t you know it? — just so happens to coincide with the World Series. Oh, the happenstance.

But to be clear, they don’t WANT to strike during the World Series. No, that would be mean, and terribly impolitic during this city’s moment in the national spotlight. Just, if SEPTA doesn’t give them everything they possibly want, right now, they’ll have no choice. And shucks, that would be so darn unfortunate.

“This is the last week we are going to work without a contract,” said Willie Brown, local TWU president, whose more than 5,000 members have been working without a contract since March 15.Yet Brown’s message to World Series fans was this: “We’re going to do everything we can not to have a strike.”

Everything, that is, except be reasonable. See, everywhere else on the planet, workers — especially government workers — have taken to the warm embrace of the words “wage freeze.” Because “wage freeze” is slightly less-sucky than “massive layoffs” and “draconian pay cuts.” Our friends in the TWU, however — some of whom might be considered slightly overpaid — are balking at two years of wage freeze, followed by a 2 percent raise the years after. And that’s understandable, I suppose. I’ve spent the last few years in companies with “wage freezes” too, and it definitely is an undesirable situation. But their reasoning — that they got raises a few years back, when SEPTA was in even deeper in the hole — strikes me as a bit flawed. As in: If you rolled your car down a mountain and flipped it a bunch of times and totaled it a few years back, what’s the harm in driving it into the ditch now?

Predictably, the union is refusing to up workers’ healthcare contributions, and wants the city to increase its allocation to the union’s pension plan. In a normal universe, where the city is cratering in fiscal crisis, these are the kinds of demands that get laughed out of the negotiating table. But this universe is not normal. This is the week of the Series, where thousands of crazy, drunk, poll-climbing, car-flipping freaks will crowd into South Philly to watch the Phils try to repeat. And then they’ll want a ride home.

To the TWU, this is, of course, leverage, which is a polite word for extortion. The city hardly wants its moment in the sun sullied by having its major transit system effectively shut down. So the union figures this is their week to make a move. Can’t argue with the strategy.

Of course, if the trains stop running this weekend — which is also Halloween, wouldn’t you know — people are gonna be pissed. At SEPTA workers, not the city. And rightly so; I doubt SEPTA workers will find much sympathy in an era of 10 percent unemployment and budgets that already ooze red ink. So when the TWU says it doesn’t want to strike, it doesn’t. It just wants Nutter SEPTA to blink first. It’s a schoolyard dare. The TWU wants to see how much backbone City Hall SEPTA officials have.

I’m curious to see what happens if the tables turn: If Nutter SEPTA turns them away, does TWU have the gumption to follow through, to strike during the Series?

EDIT & CORRECTION: As Gary from the comments pointed out, SEPTA is not a city agency and therefore TWU does not negotiate with Nutter and co. You learn something every day.

How time flies – just a couple of hours ago, I was writing about the long-standing deadlock over Philadelphia’s fiscal relief bill in Harrisburg - and then, about half an hour ago, the deadlock seems to have ended, with the Senate passing the bill, without amendments, 32-17. (KYW reports that Mayor Nutter made an “emotional” call to his cabinet to order them to “kill Plan C.”

That means – not that we’re even slightly surprised – that Nutter won’t, in fact, shut down every branch of the Free Library, close our courts, and lay off hundreds and hundreds of cops.

Over at Philadelphia Weekly, my colleague Joel Mathis responded to my own assertion that  nearly everybody – Nutter, the media, Harrisburg itself – was enacting a kind of mass bluff, and suggested:

“Well, if it’s a bluff, maybe it worked.”

I don’t know. Maybe it did work. But I wonder if Mayor Nutter didn’t hurt his own credibility – not with Harrisburg, but with us.

If Plan C was a bluff – and I think it was – that means that there was either another plan, that we didn’t know about, or there wasn’t, and Nutter fully expected the passage of this bill.

If the former is the case, shouldn’t Nutter have told us about the real Plan C? Shouldn’t Council have been weighing in on real contingency plans, rather than holding their breath together?

If the latter is the case, it means that our institutions –  library branches, police, etc. – were props in a political theatrical production.

And Philadelphians will remember that the next time that cuts rolls around.

All that being said, some congratulations are in order – to Philly, and to Mayor Nutter. May he go for a nice bike ride or something back home in Philly.

Maybe they’re meant as warnings of what’s to come if Mayor Nutter’s taxes aren’t implemented — if Harrisburg doesn’t warm to the idea — and nothing more. Maybe they’re meant as the harbingers of doom they appear to be, and things are as bad as they seem.

Friday morning, signs went up on every entrance to every library in the city’s system, from Central on down, reading thusly: All Free Library of Philadelphia Branch, Regional and Central Libraries will be Closed Effective Close of Business October 2, 2009.

Upon seeing such, I rang Andy Kahan, the Director of Author Events at Vine St.’s Free Library of Philadelphia and asked what this meant at first glance.

First is that all libraries are now in a diminishing borrowing period and that all materials will be due on October 1. As for events and readings, Kahan says, though signals are mixed, he and his staff are preparing for the worst.

“Author events would be the only program that continues and I’m in the process of negotiating with other nearby venues — just in case,” says Kahan. “Parkway institutions such as Friends Select School and Moore College of Art have stepped forward and offered their auditoria to meet our need. I’m trying to figure out which authors to place where based on the size of the audience and the institutions interest and projection capacity. I’m looking to nearby institutions because, in the event we can’t reach all attendees with news of the venue changes, people who just show up will know from our illuminated signs which parkway venue is hosting our event — and they won’t be late to the party.”

One Book, One Philadelphia programming doesn’t begin until January 2010 so it’s still a bit early for the Free Library’s event heads to look elsewhere — but they are prepared to take events elsewhere if necessary. Kahan is, like a lot of us, hopeful that Pennsylvania representatives will heed Mayor Nutter’s warnings. “On one hand the House seems willing to pass the 1% tax and pension deferments, which would allow the city to continue functioning; the Senate is not,” claims Kahan. “We’re optimistic they’ll work through their differences before the October 1 deadline.”

Kiss a librarian today. It may be one of your last chances for a while.

An hour ago, Mayor Nutter held a press conference to announce that – due to the state Senate’s delay in voting on Philadelphia’s proposed sales tax hike – the city has already lost out on about $20 million dollars that the tax hike should have raised by now.

And so, about $20 has been cut from the budget. In an emailed statement, the Mayor’s Office outlined the following cuts:

The cadet class for the Police Department, scheduled to begin this fall, will be delayed, saving the $3.2 million this fiscal year.

The Mayor’s Office will eliminate six full-time positions, saving $500,000 annually.

Starting August 29th, the 3-1-1 call center will change its hours of operation from 24 hours a day, 7 days a week to 8am-8pm on weekdays, 9am-5pm on Saturdays, and closed on Sundays, saving $230,000 annually.

The Office of Fleet Management will stop purchase on all City vehicles other than replacement police cars.  This ban includes snow removal equipment, sanitation vehicles and road repair equipment, saving $4.8 million in FY10.

The Department of Finance will eliminate six full-time positions and reduce supplies, equipment and contracts, saving $1.3 million annually.

The Commerce Department will eliminate three full-time positions, saving $233,000 annually.

The Planning Commission will eliminate six full-time positions, saving $341,000 annually.

The Law department will reduce contract spending for outside legal counsel, saving $1.3 million annually.

The Department of Public Property will reduce maintenance contracts, saving $2.5 million annually.

The Department of Licenses and Inspections will reduce contracts and supplies, saving $140,000 annually.

The City Representative will eliminate three vacant positions and reduce contracts, saving $287,000 annually.

The Streets Department will reduce garbage disposal contracts, saving $3 million annually, and will curtail street tree trimming and maintenance contracts, saving $1 million annually.

The City will eliminate its final $1.5 million payment to the Housing Trust Fund.

Evan M. Lopez

Over at It’s Our Money, Ben Waxman identifies a question/comment a lot of people have about Mayor Nutter’s doomsday budget, and answers it. The concern:

I have seen a number of comments on this blog and others accusing the mayor of resorting to scare tactics. Here is the rationale: Mayor Nutter is intentionally laying off cops and firefighters to get people upset and put pressure on the state legislature. He could easily cut other areas– health centers, libraries, and recreation programs– to make up the budget deficit.

The response:

There is just one problem with that logic: it’s completely wrong. Spending on public safety– police, fire, and prisons– dwarfs every other part of city government. About 29% of the city’s $4 billion budget goes to these costs. If the city is forced to cut $700 million from the budget, most of it will have to come from the areas where the money is.

That’s definitely right. The only thing I’d add is this: When I hear people talking about how wasteful the city is, they tend to talk about that waste very abstractly. They have this vision of a lazy city worker sitting somewhere, collecting a paycheck and waiting on a pension, but they have no idea what that worker actually does. The reality is most city workers are doing things society values. Working at rec centers, making the bureacracy function at L&I etc.

Are there lazy workers within those departments? Probably, just like there are lazy workers everywhere. But they’re not so easy for Mayor Nutter to just find and fire.

Now, there are a few items that get identified specifically as wasteful in these conversations. DROP, numerous council aides, the Mayor’s Office of Community Services. And they may be. But, as Ben says, with the size of deficit Philly’s facing, cutting these things is a drop in the bucket — and in some cases, for the Mayor, more procedural trouble than they’re worth.

UPDATE: This, however, from Ray Murphy at YPP, is a good point:

If there is any reason to be critical though it’d be the fact that the revenue agreement the Mayor and Council reached in the first place was predicated upon state action. It’s not like we didn’t know things would be tough in Harrisburg. The alternatives–raising property or wage taxes–came with other political risks that most members of Council and the Mayor weren’t willing to take.

Photo | Matt Petrillo

Controller candidate Al Schmidt objects to Nutter’s position, and came out to tell people so.

Mayor Nutter led a rally in the City Hall courtyard calling on state legislators to approve two measures — allowing the city to raise its sales tax temporarily by one percent, and allowing it to reform its pension payments — that would enable Philadelphia to meet its budget goals without draconian cuts.

Dozens of city workers, protesters and (not that many) other supporters gathered before the 2 p.m. meeting, to which Nutter arrived a fashionable 20 minutes late. “Philadelphia is about to get in a lot of trouble,” commented one woman as he approached the mic. The entire audience then began to chant, “No more budget cuts! No more budget cuts … ” to which the mayor replied, “I agree with you!”

He began his speech by noting the social, political and economic significance of Philadelphia: “This is the birth place of freedom, liberty and democracy!” He then got down to business, saying that he is not asking for a penny from the state, but instead, for it to approve the two provisions to his budget plan. “We cannot run a government solely on hope,” he said. “We need money!”

Al Schmidt, a candidate for city controller, disagrees with Nutter and believes that the mayor has betrayed the public’s trust. “Philadelphia has the highest taxes and the highest debt [of] any other city in the nation. [Nutter] is borrowing more and more money, and still saying we don’t have enough. It’s bologna,” Schmidt said, while supporters at his side held signs for his campaign.

Nutter said that without his plan, the city will face dire consequences, including reducing trash pick-up from once a week to twice a month (eliminating 350 street worker positions); a reduction of 972 police officers; the closing of fire stations (eliminating nearly 200 positions), two Health Centers (resulting in a loss of 112 positions); all branch and regional libraries (eliminating 490 positions); recreation centers, parks and numerous department agencies. This would have an accumulated total of approximately 3,000 eliminated positions.

“This doesn’t have to happen,” he reassured the public. “I’m not asking for a handout. I’m asking for a hand.”

The audience clapped for the mayor after he finished his speech, but people seemed baffled by the situation. “We need the schools! We need to help our children! What is going on with this city?” a woman declared after the applause.

“Believe it or not,” a man replied, “it’s really up to the governor.”

To some extent, I assume (and hope) that the doomsday scenario the mayor spelled out today is a negotiating position. But still, can you imagine this?

Budget actions needed without Harrisburg approval of 1% increase in City sales tax and changes to pension payments

Police
Eliminate 972 positions including 739 sworn officers, 43 civilians, and 190 by attrition.

Fire
Deactivate 6 engine companies, 3 ladder companies, and 5 ALS medic units.
As a result eliminate 36 officer positions, 120 firefighter positions, and 40 paramedics positions.
Engine and ladder deactivations will likely result in the complete closure of fire houses.

Health
Close 2 City Health Centers resulting in a significant negative impact on Philadelphia’s uninsured population.
Eliminate Medical Evaluation Unit.
Eliminate 112 positions.

Streets
Reduce trash pick up to twice a month, eliminating 350 positions.
Reduce citywide cleaning and eliminate all citywide support staff, an additional 50 positions.

Recreation
Close all Recreation Centers and cease all programming.
Eliminating 450 positions.

Free Library
Cease operations at all branch and regional libraries.
Eliminating 490 positions.

Fairmount Park
Cease all operations, eliminating 142 positions.

Commerce Department and Philadelphia City Planning Commission
Cease all operations, eliminating 59 positions in total.

Further eliminated positions
Mayor’s Office – 18 positions
Managing Director’s Office – 21 positions
L&I – 6 positions
Finance Department – 23 positions
Division of Technology – 79 positions
Human Resources – 8 positions
Records – 12 positions
Revenue – 2 positions

APPROXIMATELY 3,000 POSITIONS ELIMINATED

Says the mayor:

“I had hoped this day would never come but the time is now,� said Mayor Nutter.  “Call your state representative or state senator.  Ask friends and family from other parts of the Commonwealth, especially our suburbs, to call their legislators to ask them to help Philadelphia, because it’s important for the rest of Pennsylvania.�

At 2:00 in the City Hall courtyard, Mayor Nutter will be leading a rally to call on Harrisburg to not screw us totally. He’ll also be releasing some of his most detailed plans for what he’ll do if they do screw us totally (800 cops laid off? God damn).

This is interesting not only because you rarely see someone in a position of authority, like the mayor, leading a protest rally like this, but also because, as Ray Murphy points out,

the Mayor also invited some of the folks who have been organizing against cuts to come as well to help bolster his message. Of course, that could be a bit awkward as some of those same groups opposed the Mayor’s sales tax proposals and many are also standing in solidarity with city workers. Who, you may remember, are working without a contract and still negotiating with the Mayor regarding their contracts.

Strange bedfellows, I guess. We’ll have an on-the-scene report afterward.

Last month, the Mayor announced the allocation of $13.5 million in federal stimulus money for public safety purposes. About half of the money would go to keeping jobs previously cut due to the budgetary deficit; the city designated the other half for several new programs and facilities.

City Paper checked in with the city to find out how things are progressing. So far, none of the promised projects have begun, as the money has not yet arrived. But according to Luke Butler, deputy press secretary for the mayor, the city expects to receive the funds beginning in mid-August. Susan Oliver, Public Affairs Team Leader for the Office of Justice Programs, has confirmed the city’s assessment.

The $13.5 million for public safety, the result of an Edward Byrne Memorial Justice Assistance Local Grant, may be just the beginning of more extensive federal funding for the city’s police departments. Tomorrow, Vice President Biden and Attorney General Holder will be at City Hall to announce additional stimulus funds for law enforcement nationwide. The city has already applied for an additional $75 million in public safety stimulus money. The feds have yet to announce the results of those applications.

Tomorrow’s press conference may bear good news for city public safety agencies, which have struggled with budget cuts. According to David Lawrence, court administrator for the 1st Judicial District, around 150 positions have become vacant as a result of a hiring freeze in place since last fall. Due to these personnel shortages, workloads have increased, while the pace of bureaucracy has decreased. “It’s difficult for people who have to deal with increased caseloads, particularly in probation,� Lawrence says. “It has especially delayed paperwork.�

Without the Byrne Grant, the situation could be much worse. In total, the city intends to save 52 court positions with money from the grant, at a cost of about $115,000 per position. Deputy Mayor Everett Gillison says that the amount spent per position is appropriate. “Well, you have to factor in that these are not entry-level positions,� he says, “and that they include salary as well as benefits.� According to Gillison, the benefits package for municipal workers amounts to about 40 percent of a base salary.

Meanwhile, when the rest of the Byrne Grant arrives, the city can begin the implementation of jobs programs, police training, and plans to construct a “Real-Time Crime Center� at Police Headquarters.

Rep. Mike O’Brien

It’s been a bit hard to tell what Mayor Nutter expects to happen in Harrisburg with regards to the two budget measures the city is asking the state to take — allowing Philadelphia to raise our sales tax and delay some pension payments. Does the mayor believe, in his heart of hearts, that the state is gonna come through, and let Philly keep the (tough, but bearable) budget the mayor and council agreed on? Or is he just delaying the inevitable draconian cuts that will come when the state doesn’t lend its approval, waiting until he can say “I tried,” and point the finger elsewhere?

It’s hard to tell because Nutter has been careful not characterize his impressions of state legislators’ positions, and some of those legislators have taken a wait-and-see approach.

But this, this morning, is bad news for Nutter, and possibly for all of us. From Philly Clout:

State Rep. Mike O’Brien just left the closed door meeting, saying he wasn’t going to be “lecturedâ€� on the city’s finances. O’Brien said he has asked the city’s lobbyists and the administration why they won’t consider diverting the $87 million the city’s expected to receive in state gaming taxes towards the budget problems. So far, O’Brien said, he’s gotten no answers.

I don’t know anything about whether O’Brien’s gotten answers or even whether the question he’s asking is reasonable, but for the mayor and his plan, the fact that he’s this upset at this deep stage of the game poses a problem. Ready for once-a-month trash pickup?

UPDATE: Nutter came out of the meeting and said the Philadelphia delegation is behind the plan, though it’s not clear what came of the O’Brien spat.

Due to the state budget impasse, cash is really running low. Full press release from the Mayor’s office is below; essentially, the city had expected state payments it hasn’t received because Harrisburg hasn’t passed a budget. The city is also hoping for the state to allow it to raise the sales tax by 1%. That is very much not a guarantee and we may see big cuts instead — but these payments will get made regardless, is my understanding.

Philadelphia, July 17, 2009 – The City of Philadelphia has informed Harrisburg lawmakers that, due to the State budget impasse, the City is forced to delay spending on anything other than employee compensation, debt service, and emergencies.  This means that all payments to vendors and suppliers will be delayed until the passage of the State budget and passage of legislation authorizing an increase in the City’s sales tax and changes to its pension payments.  This step comes as the City faces a growing cash crisis which must be addressed immediately.

“I have made repeated trips to Harrisburg over the last several weeks and I know that lawmakers are working hard to pass a fair and balanced budget,� said Mayor Nutter.  “That said, the delay in the State budget process is severely impacting the City’s cash flow and we have no option but to take these difficult steps.�

The budget crisis in Harrisburg has had a more damaging impact on the City this year because Philadelphia is asking for critical items to balance the City budget – the authorization of the temporary sales tax increase and pension reforms.  These two items will generate $250 million in new revenues and savings in our current FY 10 budget, and provide $700 million over the course of the Five-Year Plan.  Without legislative action very soon, the City will be unable to complete a routine cash flow borrowing at an affordable rate as it normally does each year.

In addition, until a State budget is approved, the City will not receive any of the normal state reimbursements for services like child welfare services and juvenile detention.  In total, those reimbursements are about $100 million that are traditionally received at the end of August.

The City also announced that all new capital projects will be under stringent review. Over the next few days the City will review every capital project and will determine which can proceed in the absence of the passage of the State budget and the passage of legislation authorizing the City to raise the sales tax by 1% and make changes to its pension payments.

If the State budget is resolved and the legislation authorizing the sales tax and pension reforms (HB 1828) is approved in the very near future, the City will be able to avoid this cash crisis.

Today, Mayor Michael Nutter, along with D.A. Lynne Abraham, announced the creation of Philly’s brand-new Mental Health Court. Essentially, its function is to “provide alternative supervision to eligible offenders who require specialized mental health treatment with court oversight.” From the press release:

Instead [of] many different judges supervising these cases, one designated judge will hear all matters pertaining to the targeted population, thereby streamlining dockets and bringing all mental health cases into one courtroom. Participants in the Mental Health Court must follow the rules and regulations of the Philadelphia Adult Probation and Parole Department and the conditions of an individualized treatment plan. All participants will be required to appear before the designated judge who will monitor their compliance and adherence to all rules and conditions.

While this is a first in Philly, it’s not in Pennsylvania — 11 other counties have mental health courts. But, as the press release says, Philly’s “will represent the first in the state to provide for participants’ reintegration back into the community.” Which all sounds pretty good, no? Shouldn’t people with mental health issues get treated differently? Though there isn’t much news on the topic (except from Philebrity, strangely, which also noted the the lack of media coverage), there’s a good article in the U.S. News & World Report on a mental health court in Pittsburgh, which sheds some light on exactly what differentiates it from other courts. Here’s a snippet:

A soft touch is hardly standard for judges. But this is the Allegheny County Mental Health Court, an alternative to traditional criminal court, and it is precisely that sort of approach that has helped keep more and more mentally ill offenders out of jail. “Some people say, ‘Is warm and fuzzy appropriate for the criminal justice system?’” says Zottola, a former county prosecutor. “But it really works.”

Pew’s Philadelphia Research Initiative has just released a report on the cost of city employee benefits (pension and health care). It’s not pretty, particularly when it comes to pensions. Money quote from the press release:

Philadelphia’s city pension fund now has less than half the money it needs to make good on its obligation to past and current city workers. The fund has not been this severely underfunded since 1996, and there is little prospect that the picture will brighten appreciably in the next few years.

Basically, the city has been short-shrifting the pension fund for several years now — pushing the obligation down the road and hoping it becomes someone else’s problem. And one of our leadership’s solutions to the current budget crisis is to … short-shrift the pension fund.

If you’re relatively young and plan on living in Philly for a while, you can probably start looking forward to a day when you’re paying a lot of taxes for services rendered a long time ago.

Last week, a spokesman for D.C. 47, the city’s white collar workers union, criticized the timing of the report (before it came out — he had been briefed on some of the contents during the fact-checking process), saying that it coincided too closely with the expiration of the public sector unions’ contracts.

This seems crazy to me. Isn’t this the exact right time for a report like this, when the greatest number of people are talking/thinking/debating about public employee compensation? Pew is giving the public a sense of the scope of employee benefits. It’s up to the union now to make the case that those benefits are warranted, and that the city needs to find a way to pay for them, whether it be by raising taxes or what have you.