Council President May Want To Revise Nutter's Pension Reform Bill
By Mike Dunn
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) - Much to Mayor Nutter's chagrin, Council President Darrell Clarke is still holding off on introducing a pension reform bill that Nutter wants to see passed.
One key issue is how it would affect the pensions of future elected officials.
"Still analyzing it… (it's a) pretty comprehensive bill," Clarke said.
The plan primarily affects some non-unionized city workers, imposing a new, hybrid pension plan for new hires.
But Nutter included provisions for other groups, including a small number of unionized workers and elected officials. Current elected officials would be grandfathered into the existing pension plan.
Clarke, though, says the breadth of the proposal makes him hesitant to introduce it right away.
"It's just not my style. I believe personally (if) we introduce a bill, we should be prepared to move ahead with some level of discussion. We're not prepared to do that."
So the Council President hinted he may want to revise the proposal, possibly excising provisions for the paramedics and elected officials.
"I'm not sure you need to do it all in one bill, to be honest with you. There could possibly be a measured approach," he said.
Clarke says he hopes for introduction of some version of this by the end of this year, which would mean the debate is likely to slip to next year.
