Thursday, September 17, 2009
Chamber Applauds Senate on Approval of City Budget Bill
Posted at 5:23 PM
The Greater Philadelphia Chamber of Commerce extends its appreciation today to members of the Pennsylvania General Assembly for passing HB1828, which will enable Philadelphia to avoid catastrophic cuts in personnel and services. Now the City will have the tools to implement a balanced budget with shared sacrifices that reflects today’s harsh economic realities.
The bill approves a temporary, one-percent Philadelphia sales tax increase and changes the City’s pension amortization period and defers a portion of pension payments.
"The Chamber has worked closely with the Nutter Administration to support this legislation crucial to the economic survival of the City of Philadelphia and the entire southeastern region of Pennsylvania," said Rob Wonderling, Chamber President & CEO. "We believe the temporary sales tax increase and pension payment relief will help the City ride out this economic downturn."
As another budget reduction effort, Mr. Wonderling also pointed to the work of the Private Sector Outreach Board, which is advising the Nutter Administration on identifying efficiencies and cost-savings in City government operations. The board comprised of business leaders began advising Nutter Administration officials in January and so far has identified $28 million in savings. In addition, $4.2 million in services have been donated by businesses across the region.
The bill’s passage drew appreciative responses from Chamber leaders David L. Cohen and Nicholas DeBenedictis.
"On behalf of the Greater Philadelphia Chamber of Commerce, we greatly appreciate the effort that the House and Senate members invested in the careful development of HB1828," said Chamber Chairman David L. Cohen, executive vice president, Comcast Corp. "Be assured that the alternative measures to balance Philadelphia’s budget, such as an increase in wage or business taxes, were considered and rejected. These were viewed by business leaders throughout the region as destructive and detrimental to our future economic recovery. That is why we have commended the Mayor for making the hard choices that are embedded in his ‘shared sacrifices’ FY2010 budget and five-year plan."
The legislation’s passage was also applauded by Mr. DeBenedictis, Chairman of the Chamber’s Policy research & Legislative Committee, and Chairman, President and CEO of Aqua America, Inc.
"We thank both the House and Senate members for the welcome they extended to Mayor Nutter and the Chamber representatives and the time afforded to us in considering our request," said Mr. DeBenedictis. "A great deal of hard work and compromise has led to this moment and we thank the General Assembly for recognizing the importance of this issue to our region."