If the councils of the city of Philadelphia, before or on the second stated meeting in December in each and every year, shall fail to levy and fix the rate of taxes for the ensuing year, the tax rate of the preceding year shall be continued as the rate for the ensuing year; and it shall be the duty of the city commissioners to proceed at once to make out the tax duplicate for the ensuing year at said rates, so that the receiver of taxes shall be able to collect the taxes on the first Monday of February of said year.
53 P.S. § 17035