by KYW's Mike Dunn
The Nutter administration on Monday convened a meeting with City Council members to deliver more grim economic news: the city has a new and unexpected budget deficit, topping $30 million.
Top aides to the mayor told councilmembers that despite months of cutbacks, the government at this point has a $31-million deficit in the current fiscal year, which ends next July.
City budget director Stephen Agostini says a lot of factors are to blame -- especially declining wage tax receipts:
"Employment is down in our city as it is nationally. Wages are down and not growing at the rate that they were two years ago, a year and a half ago. That has lowered our wage taxes by about three percent."
So, more budget cutting is likely, with some hard decisions by the mayor expected between now and January. Agostini says the option of layoffs of city workers has not been ruled out.
This news comes less than two months after state legislators in Harrisburg approved measures that Nutter said would allow the city to balance its budget (see related story) -- by increasing the sales tax within the city limits and by changing how city pension obligations are handled.
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