Five-year plan may mean U. pays for services

Although the city's five-year financial plan proposed by Mayor Edward Rendell last week could force the University to pay a significant amount of money for services provided by the city, Senior Vice President Marna Whittington said the plan is fair because of the difficult economic times. Last Thursday, Rendell released the five-year plan, which the mayor hopes will bring the city out of debt. Proposals in the plan which could affect the University include the city's seeking reimbursement for sanitation privileges, raising permit and licensing fees, charging local universities for multiple dwelling license fees and charging a fee for 911 services. Whittington said she had expected the proposals in the plan and added that the University should be prepared to pay the fees. "I think that in difficult times, the University should pay fees for the services other entities in the city pay," Whittington said. "[The plan] is entirely fair." The plan suggests the city investigate the possibility of non-profit organizations paying for services rendered by the city for sanitation, fire and police services. According to Whittington, the University currently collects its own trash. But the city allows the University to dump its trash during normal hours in city dumps free of charge. Whittington said that although the language in the plan is not specific, if the plan is passed next month the University will probably have to pay to dump trash. She added that the amount the University will be charged has not been calculated. The plan also proposes raising "license, permit and service fees to approximate more closely to the cost of providing service." Whittington said the University would be charged these permit fees for any major construction project. The city also has not set fee schedules for permits yet, she said. Also, under Licenses and Inspections initiatives, the plan proposes investigating charging local universities "multiple occupancy dwelling license fees or rooming house license fees where applicable." This initiative may pertain to University dorms, but Whittington said the University must "wait and see" what regulations the city actually passes. "The details of all this have not been worked out," Whittington said. She added that once the plan is passed, the city will begin implementation. In addition, the plan proposes charging a fee for 911 emergency service, and Whittington said this may affect the University. Currently, the University has its own emergency number, 511, but may also be charged for the city's emergency number.

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