Talks on Mummers Parade to resume

The city and the Mummers Association will resume talks today on the impact of Mayor Nutter's budget cuts on the traditional New Year's Day parade, after meeting last evening for about 90 minutes.

"We're making progress but we ran out of time," said Doug Oliver, Nutter's press secretary.

But Mummers Association spokesman George Badey said his organization was disappointed with the city's response. He said that the city was asking the Mummers Association to help pay for costs associated with the parade, but that so far officials have failed to provide a detailed breakdown of what those costs are.

"We don't want to be charged for things that aren't related to the parade," Badey said. "They want the Mummers to sign a blank check."

Talks ended last night when the mayor and his staff had to leave for a 7 p.m. town hall meeting about the budget cuts, and will resume at 12:30 p.m. today.

In November, Nutter announced that he was eliminating the city's annual $355,000 subsidy for the parade's prize money and provide no money at all for service costs as of Jan. 1.

He later restored $300,000 in service costs such as police protection and sanitation and asked that the Mummers pay the rest. Badey said that city estimates of the total costs have ranged from more than $700,000 to $483,546.

A Philadelphia New Year's Day institution since 1901, the Mummers Parade traditionally goes up Broad Street from South Philadelphia to City Hall, where a panel of judges determines the winners.