Mayor Nutter's Budget Crisis Proposal Comes Under Fire In Harrisburg
By Mike Dunn
HARRISBURG, Pa. (CBS) -- Mayor Nutter begs to differ with some state lawmakers who accuse him of failing to provide answers to their questions about the city's budget crisis.
This past week, a group of Democrats in the state House convened a news conference to announce their idea for solving the woes of the School District. Their proposal involves diverting gaming revenues earmarked for Philadelphia wage tax relief to the district state. And at the news conference, State Representative Michael O'Brien said they've asked the Nutter Administration for "droves of information" that has not yet been provided.
Nutter, for his part, says his aides have provided plenty: "We always bring information with us (on trips to Harrisburg). And I believe a briefing is scheduled with Representative O'Brien about some of the issues that he's asked about. The one thing that we don't have, of course, is the actual value information. But we've provided a ton of information."
The proposal from O'Brien and his colleagues is at odds with Mayor Nutter's plan to switch to a new property assessment system dubbed AVI, which would funnel an additional $94 million to the school district. The actual reassessments that would form the basis of the change are not yet complete, and some city council members have complained loudly about not having enough raw data in order to make a decision about approving Nutter's approach.
