Colin Kavanaugh | Lessons from Mayor Rendell

Philadelphia is strapped with a massive fiscal deficit. Budget cuts are looming over its vast infrastructure, threatening city jobs and services. The city's "savior" is a fresh-faced mayor facing a laundry list of problems who will likely make more enemies than friends by year's end. Citizens are hoping for the best, but preparing for the worst, as the national economy plunges deeper into recession. Welcome to Philadelphia, circa 1992, under Edward Rendell.

For some perspective on the current crisis, Mayor Michael Nutter seems to be looking back at the (self-acknowledged) "greatest mayor of Philadelphia." Unfortunately, the mayor is missing some important factors in today's crisis.

Seventeen years ago, new Philadelphia mayor Rendell (now the governor of Pennsylvania), presided over one of the worst deficits in the City's history. With a $1.25 billion five-year shortfall, the total is rivaled by only the city's current situation - a stark $2 billion void over the same period. Teetering on bankruptcy, Philly ranked as one of the 30 worst-managed cities in America.

In a bit of foreshadowing, the country's new president, Bill Clinton, tried to pass a stimulus bill (a measly $16.5 billion) that would inevitably help cities. But the package, which would have made Rendell smile, failed - even with Democratic majorities in the House and Senate.

Rendell nevertheless forged ahead. He rolled up his sleeves and went to do the hard work for which he was elected. He took a hard line with unions by demanding wage freezes. He privatized many city services and centralized others.

To raise additional revenue, Rendell made private, tax-exempt groups, including universities, pay the city for otherwise free services - establishing Payment in Lieu of Taxes, or PILOT. And he went to Harrisburg to lobby for a massive infusion of state money.

It was hard medicine, but the city recovered.

Mayor Nutter has a tough year ahead. He must keep reducing the city's crime rate while simultaneously cutting the budgets of the police and fire departments. He has to stop the hemorrhage of middle-class workers departing Philadelphia by investing in services that will give them a reason to stay, though the city doesn't have the money to invest in, well, anything.

That's a tall order. So I was giving Nutter the benefit of the doubt when he announced he was cutting 11 libraries, numerous public facilities, and possibly 220 City jobs last November.

But that was until this past week.

While telling many unionized City employees to expect additional job losses, the mayor, according to The Philadelphia Inquirer, expanded his exempt (or non-unionized) staff over the past year. And despite decreasing their pay to pre-2008 levels, Nutter remains determined to keep his bloated mayoral staff, arguing it gives him "flexibility."

If you smell some hypocrisy, you aren't alone. Unions, from firefighters to white-collar workers, are upset too.

AFSCME District 47 President Cathy Scott chided the mayor's policies.

"Exempt workers do not provide direct services to the people," Scott said. "Nutter shouldn't be expanding his office at a time when other jobs are being taken."

But Scott, whose union represents white-collar city workers, argues that Nutter has done a poor job trying to collect unpaid revenue before cutting jobs.

Referencing reports that the City is owed $1 billion in unpaid bail forfeitures by people who failed to show up in court, Scott suggested the mayor, whose office was unable to be reached despite numerous attempts, start with city mismanagement. The City has commissioned a group to investigate the issue, but there's no excuse for allowing $1 billion in revenue to go uncollected.

As a Wharton grad, Nutter knows a thing or two about fiscal policy. But all of that is for naught if he can't effectively manage the city's ever-expanding bureaucracy. Philadelphia won't collapse, especially since President Obama's stimulus package seems likely to pass.

Nutter is justified in believing that now is the time to make hard decisions. But he is unnecessarily seeking to cut precious union labor without sacrificing his own, and that simply looks hypocritical. Until the mayor reforms the way the City is run, he is setting a dangerous precedent for prolonging the deficit with poor management. And that is a waste.

Colin Kavanaugh is a College sophomore from Tulsa, Okla. The Sooner, The Better appears on alternating Mondays. His email address is kavanaugh@dailypennsylvanian.com.

Please note All comments are eligible for publication in The Daily Pennsylvanian.