| by Patrick Kerkstra |
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Property-tax abatements prompt angerMayor Nutter's proposed budget would add hundreds of dollars to the property-tax bills of most home-owning Philadelphians - but not all.
For the 9,000 who own new or renovated homes and buildings with 10-year property-tax abatements, the impact of Nutter's tax increases would be negligible: $35 next year, for example, on one typical abated $400,000 home.
A growing number of Philadelphians are fuming over such figures, and they are letting the mayor and City Council know it, in protests, in phone calls and letters, and in angry outbursts at town hall meetings.
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| by Associated Press |
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Fannie, Freddie worker bonuses total $210M
WASHINGTON - Mortgage finance giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac plan to pay more than $210 million in bonuses through next year to give workers the incentive to stay in their jobs at the government-controlled companies.
The bonuses for more than 7,600 employees were disclosed in a letter from the companies' regulator released Friday by Sen. Charles Grassley of Iowa, the senior Republican on the Senate Finance Committee.
"It's hard to see any common sense in management decisions that award hundreds of millions in bonuses when their organizations lost more than $100 billion in a year," Grassley said in a statement. "It's an insult that the bonuses were made with an infusion of cash from taxpayers."
The two companies, hobbled by skyrocketing loan defaults, were seized by regulators last fall and operate under close federal oversight with new chief executives installed by the government. Since the takeover, Fannie Mae has received $15 billion in federal aid, while Freddie Mac has received nearly $45 billion.
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