The cuts are not scheduled to begin until 2010, but Street's five-year plan calls their $46.8 million cost inconsistent with other key goals.
Among those goals is a $150 million bond issue, half of which will fund "critical needs of the city's cultural assets."
No specifics were identified, but the plan notes the importance of public- and private-sector support of the African American Museum, the Philadelphia Museum of Art, the Freedom Theatre, and the Philadelphia Zoo.
Proposed cuts in arts funding have been a staple of recent Street budgets. But with a projected year-end surplus of $166.8 million, this year's budget finds the city deeper in the black than it has been for years.
The plans also propose a single-year acceleration of existing business-tax cuts, reducing the tax on gross receipts to 0.1665 percent from a scheduled 0.1750 percent.
Joe Grace, a spokesman for Street, declined to comment in advance of the mayor's speech. But several people familiar with the process confirmed the contents of the plan.
Word of the planned rollback of tax cuts for the poor infuriated Cohen's widow, Florence, who is running for his old seat.
"I hope it's not true," Florence Cohen said upon being informed of the proposal. "I think it would be a dreadful thing and would be very unfair to the low-income people - especially now, when we have a surplus."
The $150 million bond proposal also comes just a day after yesterday's release of a critical report by the state authority that oversees city finances. The report warned of a "dangerously high debt load."
Rob Dubow, executive director of the Pennsylvania Intergovernmental Cooperation Authority, said the proposal "would cause us a lot of concern. The more you borrow for other things, the less money you have for the core infrastructure."
Dubow noted that a $150 million bond issue would cost taxpayers about $10 million a year. Thus, he said, the five-year cost of the bond would be $50 million - roughly $12 million more than the long-term business-tax cut passed by Council last month that Street vowed to veto as irresponsible.
With Street's term ending in less than two years, his budget appears to focus on his legacy.
In addition to the tax and bond measures, he wants Council to commit $125 million to "catalyze the development of New River City public water and sewer infrastructure," according to the plan, which notes that a panel is identifying projects to fund on the city's waterfronts. The spending, made possible by restructuring Water Department debt, has been on Street's wish list since 2004.
Street's plan also repeats a promise to give $1 million, over four years, to Select Greater Philadelphia, a Greater Philadelphia Chamber of Commerce program focused on attracting business. The mayor first made that commitment almost two years ago, but no money has been transferred.
And Street wants to draw more tourists to the city. He proposes spending $5 million over his last two years in office to increase Philadelphia's marketing efforts.
In the documents, the administration said it intends this spring to finally release its "Economic Development Blueprint," a 10-point strategy document that the administration began to work on at the start of Street's second term in 2004.
Brett Mandel, leader of the tax-reform lobbying group Philadelphia Forward, said it was too early to assume that any of the proposals would become law.
"The mayor's assessment of the city's fiscal condition and the ultimate reality have been two different things in recent years," he said. "This is a process that starts here and we'll see where we end up."
Contact staff writer Michael Currie Schaffer at 215-854-4565 or mcschaffer@phillynews.com.
