Think times are tough here in Delco?

Thank your lucky stars you don’t live in the city. And brace yourself for a possible new wave of people coming across the border to get out of the City of Brotherly Love.

It’s budget time in Philadelphia, and Mayor Michael Nutter has some very tough news for residents.

The city is still broke, $150 million in the hole, and he wants residents to help bail them out.

How? Well for starters, he wants to slap a new fee on trash collection.

This no doubt will come as something of a surprise to residents who believe they already are paying a ton in taxes to take care of these pesky matters such as getting those trash cans emptied each week.

Nutter wants to impose a $300 annual fee on each property in the city, both residential and commercial.

Rubbish, most residents and business owners have replied.

And that’s not all. If you want to chill your temper with a nice, cold soda, that might cost you more as well.

Nutter will propose a new tax on sweetened drinks such as soda and sports drinks. The hike would come to 2 cents an ounce.

A 20-ounce soda will cost you another 40 cents. That 8.4-ounce rush from Red Bull would set you back another 17 cents. And a six pack of soda could jump by another $1.44.

Nutter is hoping to raise $107 million from the trash fee, and another
$77 million on the drink tax. The city is staring at a $150 million deficit, which is expected to get bigger before it gets smaller.

He will announce his plans during his budget address today.

Maybe he should just ask Steve Wynn, the casino wunderkind who is looking to take over the Foxwoods Casino project along the waterfront, to loan him the money.

$150 million? Wynn could take that out of petty cash.