City Council Overrides DROP Veto; Nutter Responds

City Council voted unanimously this afternoon to override Mayor Michael Nutter’s veto of the amended DROP bill, which would reduce costs of the controversial retirement program by changing eligibility requirements and lowering the earned interest rate.

“Our plan costs less than the mayor’s,” said Tony Radowski, spokesman for Council President Anna Verna. “Many council members have told me they feel comfortable overriding the veto because of the reduced cost.”

“If we vote to sustain the mayor’s veto and the bill passed by council is defeated, we will still have in place the original DROP,” said Councilman James Kenney, a vocal opponent of the plan in the past. “So voting to override the Mayor’s veto puts us in a better financial place than voting to sustain it.”

Nutter has vowed to accept nothing less than the complete dismantling of DROP. “I think he’s made a public commitment to keep fighting until DROP is ended,” said Councilwoman Maria Quinones-Sanchez.

“We’re willing to look at other ways to cut costs, but if he wants to end it, he needs to negotiate with the union,” she said. “Otherwise, he’s legally bound to keep DROP.”

Nutter responded to City Council’s veto by mass-emailing the below petition asking for support.

Dear Friend, They actually did it. Philadelphia City Council just voted to override my veto of a bill that will preserve the Deferred Retirement Option Plan (DROP) at a cost of at least $15 million to $20 million. That’s in addition to the more than $100 million that DROP has already cost Philadelphia taxpayers. Rather than listen to the overwhelming public opposition to the DROP program and consider my bill to end it, City Council has ignored the will of their constituents and voted to spend even more money on a plan that was originally supposed to cost the city nothing. This is completely unacceptable, but there is still hope. This January more than one third of the Philadelphia City Council will be brand new members. We need to clearly demonstrate how strong public support is for eliminating DROP to the next City Council. Please help show our future councilmembers that the majority of their constituents want DROP eliminated by adding your name to our petition calling for the end of the program. DROP is a program that our city simply can’t afford. It hasn’t lived up to its original goals, and it has already cost $100 million more than planned. Rather than spend even more money to continue DROP, we must do the right thing for Philadelphia and eliminate it. Please sign the petition and tell City Council you want them to end DROP. After you sign the petition, please forward this email to your friends, neighbors and relatives and ask them to join you in signing it. The more signatures we get, the more effective our message will be. Thank you for your support and for everything you do for Philadelphia. Sincerely, Michael Nutter Mayor, City of Philadelphia Paid for by Nutter for Mayor | 42 S. 15th Street, Suite 1313 | Philadelphia, PA 19102

The DROP program allows city workers to set a retirement date up to four years in
the future, freeze their pension and
start accruing payments in an interest-bearing account. Upon retirement, employees collect a lump sum in addition to receiving pension payments.

The plan has caused controversy when some officials have retired for a matter of days, collected the lump sum payment, and returned to their position.

Five councilmembers who engaged in this practice chose not to seek re-election and one was defeated in May’s primary.