For all the Phillies fans out there (and I count myself as one of them to the point where the trip to my first Phillies game at the Vet is emblazoned in my memory), it's been a good run, but thanks to a certain sports weekly with a well known cover curse, we can pretty much be sure that National League East Champions will be the only banner we're raising next spring.
However, another Philadelphia institution was featured in a national magazine this week. That's right, Michael Nutter's dream has come true with a nice, long feature in what's gotta be his favorite magazine - Governing. (I mean, c'mon, with a wonkish article that compares "cool cities" to "nerdistans," how can it not be?)
The on-line version of the article includes long footnotes that make it read like something from David Foster Wallace. For those of you who have been following the race from the beginning, there's probably nothing in there that you don't already know but you can gain some insight into how the rest of the country is seeing this race.
It also includes a term that, according to the author, Philadelphians use to describe the city - "Bos-troit." I have to admit, I've never heard that term before but I guess it's as accurate as any term used to describe a city with thriving and struggling neighborhoods in close proximity. The article is also useful for reminding us of things we may have forgotten about in all the "elect the Nutter, save the world" frenzy of primary:
The school situation is a symptom of a larger challenge: Philadelphia has what is technically a strong-mayor system of government, but in fact there are vast reaches of policy over which Nutter will have little or no control. He can’t make decisions about SEPTA, the metro area’s financially troubled transit agency. He will have little to say about two new casinos going up in Philadelphia, the result of a deal arranged by the legislature. Even the parking meters in the city are now operated by the state. “The mayor of Philadelphia has far less power and control than people think,” says Phil Goldsmith, the city’s former managing director. “We’ve become a very balkanized, fragmented government.”
Toss in some reminders of a pending fiscal crisis, unions chomping at the bit for raises and better health care, a tax rate that continues to be higher than most cities and a crumbling infrastructure, and you get a picture that's an even more sobering reminder of the challenges ahead than any sports magazine cover jinx can muster.
Comments (10)
For Nutter to make every school as good as the one Olivia goes to, he will have to address the property tax issue.
First, we don't collect it, second, we hold too much property out of the base of potential revenue, third, Council and the Mayor totally ignored trying to even up the tax situation to get people ready of Full Market Value.
As DiCicco points out in today's Opinion part of the DN, the city has run out of options in postponing FMV because the city is getting sued by all the people who are sick of bearing the costs themselves while their neighbors get a pass.
Philadelphiaforward.org and Brett Mandel are right though, and Byko and DiCicco are missing the point.
You can't have illegal nonuniformity where some people are assessed recently and some are not.
DiCicco tried to drag City Council kicking and screaming into the 21st century on property taxes, but they couldn't get it together in time for Mandel's lawsuit.
But Mandel is going to sue the city for illegal nonuniform assessments, and hopefully we can have some revenue coming in to fund schools, police, safety, infrastructure, trash pick up, etc.
Philly pols for too long have tried to avoid simple good government so taxes can stay in circa 1975.
Now they delayed doing something that would buffer the effect of the tax increase from addressing nonuniformity.
This is coming in Nutter's term, one of the many items he inherits from Stalling Street.
The good news about property tax uniformity is that it will make people either 1. pay taxes out of pocket 2. pay taxes with a reverse mortgage or pay taxes by selling.
All three of those scenarios involve paying taxes, in stark contrast to Street and his pals' ideas about property taxes.
The feds and state are not going to pay for our school district. We have to.
So Philly is going to have to become a city with a vibrant middle class. Anything that draws the private market in is going to be Nutter's main focus.
But get ready for Council to play the race card. It's already started, it seems.
Posted by Anonymous | October 2, 2007 6:12 PM
Nutter does have control over SEPTA, in that he just doesn't have to sue it when it needs to raise fares.
Transfers are already long gone, really. There's no way SEPTA can do what it does without big increases and big union concessions.
All Nutter has to say to critics is "blame the union" for fare hikes.
Posted by Anonymous | October 2, 2007 8:00 PM
Phila.gov, seriously, just scroll down to see city agencies that could get the ax.
Fair Housing? Doesn't the state and federal government do that?
Fleet Management? Doesn't city council get paid enough to buy their own cars?
Fun, Fit, and Free? Are you kidding me? It's not free.
L&I? Give it the authority to collect fines a sheriff sale, increase fines for run down properties.
PIDC? Auction those properties off in an open, competitive process, close this relic.
RDA? Auction those properties off in an open, competitive process, make it all volunteer.
PHA? Sell empty properties and vacant lots for fresh cash now to be used to build new housing. No more city subsidy.
OHCD? OMG. It's redundant, most of it. Eliminate redundancy via legislation. Give consumers the right to sue for redundant, ineffective programs.
NTI? Keep auto removal, but when lots are sold for back taxes, they won't need to be "greened." They'll be new buildings on them.
Literacy? They're called schools. Abolish the City Reads a Book program funding. Make it volunteer. And pick a book not about race, but about good government.
Recreation? Offer assets to private buyers, such as expensive pools to pool clubs, but with a proviso to keep a certain amount of access for low income users.
City Property? Review valuable property, sell to private owners, and rent the office space if the city needs it for some agency. SEPTA's building owes property taxes, but only because SEPTA owns it. SEPTA could rent and let the city collect that property tax from a private owner.
Sheriff? Contract out the real estate tax collection functions to a private company. Fewer costs in benefits and pensions, more accountability.
Revenue? Contract out part of mission to private company. Fewer costs in benefits and pensions, more accountability and greater use of updated IT.
Water? Let old water liens be collected at sheriff sale that are a certain age, over a certain amount.
PGW? Let old gas liens be collected at sheriff sale that are a certain age, over a certain amount. After financial picture improves, sell to private owners. Allow for bill collection with teeth, and PHA get on the stick in building senior only housing from selling your huge amount of unused, unrenovatable housing stock.
What's hard about any of this is that City Council is so constipated, they can't imagine how to make this work.
Meanwhile, this is what all the municipalities around us have already done.
Posted by Anonymous | October 2, 2007 8:26 PM
And papers, if Nutter does this stuff, stop cry, cry, crying about it. It simply has to be done, no way out of it.
Posted by Anonymous | October 2, 2007 8:28 PM
Oh, and create partnerships with Universities to do some city work, such as analysis or programming, using interns. Then give the interns credit for their work for their resume.
Students and Grad students stay in city, city gets high quality work for little money.
Require every city council member to use a Wharton Student to analyze cost savings, tax base improvement, and revenue projections. Then make the interns come to council meetings and be able to speak.
Posted by Anonymous | October 2, 2007 8:31 PM
RDA can't hold properties that pay zero in property taxes.
After a certain time, any RDA property given to someone or sold to someone that owes a certain amount in property taxes reverts to the RDA, which must then auction it off competitively.
Minimize and require updating of entities that have zero or low property taxes for nonprofit status. Some are defunct, and not assessed after that fact.
Posted by Anonymous | October 2, 2007 8:34 PM
Anyone who works for, contracts for, or gets property via the city or its agencies and affiliates must have property taxes paid up in full on any properties they own or co-own in the city, or face immediate termination.
That would get an immediate $50 million or more.
Posted by Anonymous | October 2, 2007 8:40 PM
Mandate that every city agency produce an annual report that is vetted according to legal and accounting best practices, and mandate that it be put online no later than 20 days after fiscal year's end.
Then give citizens the right to get part of the money for improvements that if enacted will result in costs savings. Make this a website open to anyone whether an employee of the city or not.
Posted by Anonymous | October 2, 2007 8:46 PM
This is what I had hoped this website would be, an open forum that the press and watchdog groups were the primary initiators of necessary solutions for efficient, good government that doesn't backrupt the citizens.
Posted by Anonymous | October 2, 2007 8:48 PM
Anon, I really like several of these ideas, particularly the relatively simple one of the Wharton students.
Posted by Wendy | October 2, 2007 10:10 PM