By Mike Dunn

PHILADELPHIA (CBS) — Mayor Nutter’s efforts to reform the pension plans of city workers faces slow going in City Council. The Council President Thursday decided to hold off on introducing some key legislation.

Mayor Nutter last month announced pay raises for non-unionized city workers, but at the same time, he said he would impose a new, hybrid pension plan for new hires. That requires City Council approval, and the Administration has now sent that legislation to Council President Darrell Clarke.

Clarke, however, has decided not to formally introduce the bill just yet.

“Given the significance of it, (and) the potential that it will ultimately impact the general contract between the municipal workers unions and the City of Philadelphia, what we want to do is first determine what’s in the bill. We want to know what the potential implications are. We anticipate introducing this bill in the future, but I want to understand what is we’re putting in the hopper,” he said.

This measure is vital in Nutter’s effort to also create a two-tier pension plan for the two unions representing blue-collar and white-collar city workers.

Those unions, District Councils 33 and 47, are opposed to a hybrid pension, and contract talks have been stalled for four years.

Lewis Rossman, the mayor’s Director of Legislative Affairs, told KYW Newsradio, “We appreciate that the Council President wants to take time to review the bill, and we are confident he’ll introduce the bill in due course.”