Who wins and who loses in Mayor Kenney's post-Covid budget plan
Who Wins and Who Loses?
Philly 3.0'southward Engagement Director on who stands to gain—and who doesn't—from Mayor Kenney's post-Covid budget plan
May. 11, 2020
Mayor Kenney released a revised budget proposal final week to reflect the reality of cratering urban center revenues resulting from the pandemic response and associated business closings.
The upkeep gap, currently sitting at effectually $650 one thousand thousand, is five times greater than the ane the urban center faced during the Great Recession, and the assistants will need to cutting around $341 million from its prior spending plan that debuted in March.
It'due south possible that the cuts proposed could go less dramatic if more federal coin comes in, or the assistants takes advantage of the new Federal Reserve municipal bond-ownership program, but for at present, this is the budget we're debating, and it'southward real ugly.
Like with all budgets, this is a statement about the administration'due south views on what is most important right now, and who should shoulder more of the sacrifices. Nosotros used Controller Rebecca Rhynhart's new visualization tool to highlight some of the wide themes and points of interest.
Three winners from Kenney'due south new budget proposal
Fire and Law Departments
Municipal unions' contracts were due to expire on June 20, and at the end of March, Mayor Kenney and the Fraternal Order of Police force agreed to do a one-year contract extension rather than permit contract negotiations distract from the wellness emergency response.
One upshot of the contract extension was that the city's half dozen,300 police officers received a 2.5-percentage pay increase starting May ane, followed past a $750 signing bonus on July 1. A smaller group of deputies in the Sheriff's Part represented by the FOP will see a smaller bump, with 2.25% pay increase and $400 bonus.
In belatedly April, the Metro reported that Kenney reached a similar contract extension agreement with the firefighters' union IAFF Local 22, which also included a 2.five-pay increase, and earlier this week the mayor announced he had reached extension deals with all four municipal worker unions.
In the FY20 revised budget, the Police Section sees a $seven.68 million increase in the personal services category, and the Fire Department sees a $1.2 million increase. That goes up over again twelvemonth-to-year with a 1.5 percent increase for constabulary to $760 million, and a 1.9 percentage increase for fire to $321 1000000.
Betwixt the March FY21 budget proposal and the revised version, the Fire Department's budget increases by 5 percent, or $14.two million, to $321 million, and the Constabulary Department'due south budget increases past 2 percent, or $14 one thousand thousand, to $760 meg. Personal services were the simply upkeep categories to run into increases in both departments.
911
One of the only proposed increases in the budget, and the largest in both percentage terms and net increase is for the 911 programme under the Part of Innovation and Engineering. OIT has been facilitating the
shift to online operations for all the unlike departments and processes—no minor feat in a metropolis where some processes are still fully or partially paper-based. There's a net increment for OIT driven by a combined $30 one thousand thousand increment for the 911 arrangement, both for materials and equipment, and purchase of services.
The Streets Department
The Streets Department would still see budget cuts under Mayor Kenney'south proposal, but the transportation side of the firm will but be 8 per centum smaller than in FY20, and the sanitation side will actually see a small increment of $iii.i million according to the Cycle Coalition'south assay.
The drinking glass-half-full take on this is that it's non almost every bit bad as it could have been, remembering the huge cuts to Streets during the Corking Recession that the city took years and years to restore equally the roads crumbled into a craggy moonscape.
This is an important reminder that for all the talk of an "infrastructure stimulus" at the federal level, state and local help is really the nearly effective infrastructure program the federal government could pass at this point.
This is an of import reminder that for all the talk of an "infrastructure stimulus" at the federal level, state and local help is really the nigh effective infrastructure program the federal authorities could pass at this point.
Having the federal government and the Fed fill in Philadelphia'south budget gap to avoid a bunch of unnecessary cuts to our existing infrastructure programme—or even sending us more money to hire a bunch of laid-off people to repave streets and sidewalks—would be a great fashion of putting construction workers to work, and it doesn't require anybody to come upwardly with a large list of new projects in short order.
The Losers
Commerce
One of the hardest-hit departments where the mayor's proposed cuts appear oddly outsized in proportion to the importance of its role in economic recovery is the Commerce Department.
In the revised FY20 upkeep, Commerce is funded at around $10.3 million, and in the revised FY21 upkeep, they see effectually an 85-pct cut to just $1.45 1000000.
Commerce is a key partner and resource to small businesses across the urban center in over 200 commercial corridors, and as well to the city's business improvement districts and community development corporations. They've played a critical part in helping minor business owners apply for the federal loans and other grants that are available. A massive staff cut to Commerce will undoubtedly have downstream consequences for small businesses' ability to hang on until the fall.
Clean Streets
The long-delayed citywide street sweeping program the mayor announced in this yr's budget address is being delayed in one case over again, and has been completely cutting in the revised budget. PlanPhilly likewise reported that the Zero Waste initiative will be fully wound down.
On ane level it's understandable why a new plan that hasn't notwithstanding started would be on the chopping cake, but from another perspective, the point that street sweeping advocates accept been making all along is that non only should nosotros have a citywide street sweeping program, simply information technology should exist viewed every bit a core municipal responsibility on the same level of importance as garbage collection and recycling.
Given the relatively depression price tag, also, and its relation to the number one priority that surfaced in the City's recent resident survey, it deserves to move up the priority listing—specially since neighborhood cleanups are out of the question this spring, and things are looking mighty filthy out there.
Regarding the Aught Waste product initiative, information technology's been difficult to see how many of the strategies they settled on really moved the needle very much in whatsoever focus area, and at times the office seemed like more of an obstacle to a more than effective municipal solution to the litter problem than an ally.
The part would frequently serve as the administration'south main mouthpiece opposing street sweeping, almost recently likening the calls for bones sanitation to demands for a "24/7 concierge service" before eventually pivoting to support one time the mayor moved to include it in this year'southward upkeep proposal.
Non-Residents
Pennsylvania's Sterling Act allows Philadelphia to levy a wage taxation on non-residents who piece of work in the urban center, and amidst other revenue increases proposed in the revised budget, the mayor is proposing a tax hike but on the rate for non-residents.
This was one of the more curious moves in the new upkeep since at that place had already been reports nigh the impact of so many suburban residents working from abode on that part of the wage tax base.
Like with all budgets, this one is a argument of the administration's priorities about what is most important right now, and who should shoulder more of the sacrifices.
Metropolis officials said Thursday they anticipate that employer withholdings may not be adjusted in the early weeks, and mayhap not ever, and instead suburban workers would seek refunds later. So essentially, the non-resident wage tax increment is really a loan from those employees that will have to be paid back in a twelvemonth. Any liquidity now helps the City rest the books, which counts for a lot, only in that location's a anticipated downside.
Annihilation Non Nailed Down in the Metropolis Charter
One theme in the revised budget is that some of the offices established in the Urban center Charter, such as the Role of Immigrant Affairs and the Office of LGBT Diplomacy saw fewer cuts than ones that weren't.
Among the bigger stories nigh programme cuts that have sparked some public reaction is the proposal to zilch out the Office of Arts, Culture, and the Creative Economy, which is charged with administering a range of city arts programming, events, exhibitions and taking intendance of the city'due south collection of public fine art.
The Urban center Representative's role, which promotes and organizes special events across the city, also was fully cut, and then was the Nix Waste matter initiative, at to the lowest degree as a standalone program.
In the future, this trend could push advocates and elected officials even further toward strategies of trying to lock their favorite programs into the Charter as a way of protecting them in futurity recessions.
Jon Geeting is the director of engagement at Philadelphia three.0 , a political action committee that supports efforts to reform and modernize City Hall. This is part of a series of manufactures running on both The Denizen and three.0'southward blog .
Header photograph courtesy Dyana Wing And then / Unsplash 
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Source: https://thephiladelphiacitizen.org/winners-losers-kenney-covid-budget/
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