The Deferred Retirement Option Plan allows employees to collect pension payments for up to four years before retiring. The money goes into an interest-bearing account that is paid in a lump sum when the employee retires.
DROP's popularity with elected officials - including those who collected six-figure DROP payments and returned to office - fueled voter outrage that helped send veteran City Councilman Frank Rizzo to defeat in May's Republican primary, along with City Commissioners Chairwoman Margaret Tartaglione.
Council's bill could be up for a final vote June 16; Nutter's bill did not make it out of committee. Nutter said he would not sign Council's bill.
He has said the city's pension fund, which currently has only 47 percent of assets needed to pay its future liabilities, could not afford such a benefit.
"The only DROP bill I plan to put my signature on is the one I sent up," Nutter said Wednesday.
He did not say whether he would veto Council's version, a tricky proposition because that could leave Nutter and the city with the current, more expensive version of DROP.
Nutter said he was "very, very disappointed" in the action Council took, reiterating that he believed the program "needs to go away."
"The action today frustrates the interests of this great city [and] continues to place great financial pressure on our pension system."
Council's bill does not affect anyone already in DROP. It grandfathers in under current conditions anyone who would have become eligible for DROP within 90 days of whenever the bill becomes law.
