Nutter Borrowing $50 Million to Ensure Schools Open On Time [Updated]

Update [1:30 p.m] City Council President Darrell Clarke, inevitably, disagrees with the plan. One, he says the city needs permission from Council to borrow. Two, he prefers the idea of selling off now-shuttered school buildings to cover the $50 million bill. Both are vowing that they’re bringing $50 million to the table, in other words. Just in radically different ways.

Schools should open on time in Philadelphia this year (should) thanks to Michael Nutter’s decision to borrow $50 million that neither the city nor the state had been able to come up with. The mayor wants to cover the cost with the one-point sales tax increase he’s trying to push through council. If that doesn’t fly, he’ll have to borrow against the general fund. That said, the city’s credit rating was recently improved, so that should make borrowing a little more palatable. Also, I wasn’t there for Nutter’s announcement, but from the press release I got, he seems impassioned. Quoth: “Today, as Mayor of this great City, I’m here to say I WILL NOT RISK A CATASTROPHE. We WILL avoid this disaster.”

h/t Daily News