To some, it's apocalyptic.

It's Plan B - the backup, the safety net, the just-in-case proposal that Mayor Nutter is pushing in the likelihood that his Plan A for fixing Philadelphia's fiscal troubles gets shot down.

But Plan B calls for cuts so deep - 480 uniformed officer jobs would disappear - and a proposal so disdained - a permanent 6.1 percent hike in the city property tax atop larger temporary increases - that City Council so far hasn't even considered it.

Five weeks before Council's May 31 deadline for passing next year's budget, it is too difficult to forecast what tax increases and service cuts are in store for Philadelphians to close the five-year $1.4 billion gap.

Yet the worst-case scenario - $405 million worth of additional cuts in Plan B - cannot be dismissed entirely because of the considerable hurdles that Nutter faces in gaining support for his preferred strategy.

For one thing, there is deep Council resistance to Nutter's proposed temporary property-tax increase; the levy would rise 19 percent next year and 14.5 percent the year after.