by KYW's Mike Dunn

Making Philadelphia's government more customer friendly is a major thrust of Mayor Nutter's first budget, delivered by him on Thursday morning to City Council.

"The time for heavy lifting has arrived."

And with those words Mayor Nutter began his first budget address to Philadelphia City Council on Thursday -- a nearly $4-billion spending plan that fulfills his longstanding promises for more police officers on the street and swifter reductions in the city's business taxes.

It was an emotional moment for the mayor as he began his speech in the chamber where he served as a councilmember for 15 years. He became slightly misty as he recalled that when he resigned to run for mayor, he did so in that same chamber.

Another key focus  of the mayor's budget is his goal to make city government more customer-friendly, by beefing up the responsiveness of various city agencies and establishing a "311" telephone system for non-emergency calls -- a system that his predecessor, John Street, had declared too expensive for Philadelphia.

"This government is here for only one reason -- we're in the customer service business.  And that's what we're going to provide -- high quality customer service every day to every citizen, because they deserve it."
 
And Nutter promises that there will be tracking of the customer service efforts with the creation of a monitoring system he dubs "PhillyStat":

"We're going to become very good listeners."

The mayor is also proposing an increase in the tax paid by people who park in privately-owned public garages, from about 15 percent to about 20 percent. That would mean approximately 50 cents more on a $10 parking fee. The cash generated would be earmarked for pothole repairs and street resurfacing, as well as for new tree plantings.

Separately, Mayor Nutter is vowing to beef up the city's recycling program and the city's parks system.

City council members were listening intently to the mayor's proposals, which they will hash over during months of hearings that begin next week.

KYW's Steve Tawa, also in City Council chambers for the mayor's speech, got reaction to the Nutter administration's plan for dealing with what will soon become a major issue: negotiating  with the city's labor unions.

The contracts for the city's four municipal unions -- white collar, blue collar, police, and fire -- are set to expire at the end of June. The Nutter administration is promising an "open and honest dialogue."

To that end, for the first time ever, the cards are on the table up front. The mayor's five-year plan allocates $403 million for funding wage and benefit increases that are still to be negotiated.

he repeated his intentions to five city workers a 'fair and reasonable contract, but one that also treats city taxpayers in the same way.'

Councilman James Kenney likes that open-book approach:

"That's the money that's there. If there is other money that can be identified, I'm sure that through this transparent process the administration will take that into consideration."

Brian McBride (in file photo at right) leads the city's firefighters' union:

"We'll review the five-year plan, and when it's time, we'll sit down and negotiate."

The mayor pointed out that the single largest expense in the city budget -- about 60 percent of the total -- is salaries and benefits for the city's 23,000 employees. McBride says health care costs in Philadelphia are second highest in the nation, behind only Ann Arbor, Mich.:

"Firefighters, because of the nature of our jobs and the exposures we have, we're going to be sicker. Our health care will cost more, because we use it more."