Two days before this past Christmas a letter was hand-delivered to the Mayor noting that the 2012 budget "fail[ed] to reflect the conditions for approval that the ICA has required". Those conditions were threefold: first, to adopt a strategic capital plan, which would be important given the fact that the City has not issued debt for infrastructure projects but soon anticipates doing so, second, to create a dedicated fund for other post-employment benefits, something first required in the amended Act 47 plan from 2009, and the City’s share of the pension fund payment ($60 million) for 2012.
In addition the letter states that the City amended the budget by increasing Council staff salaries and creating a dedicated fund for Council mailings by "apparently…diminishing a workers compensation fund".
Could it be more ironic that-following the City’s 2007 request to get out of oversight and an amended recovery plan that stated "get focused on legacy costs like debt, pensions, and workers comp-the City comes late with plans and funds related to these items and siphons money off of one of them to bolster Council operations?
