Skip to content
Link copied to clipboard

From City Hall to Holmesburg, it's all about the budget

You wanted budget information, Philly? Well, yesterday the city more than provided it, with two public financial sessions on how to plug a $1 billion budget gap over five years - a PhillyStat data meeting at the Municipal Services Building, chaired by Mayor Nutter, and the first of four community budget workshops, run by the Penn Project for Public Engagement.

You wanted budget information, Philly?

Well, yesterday the city more than provided it, with two public financial sessions on how to plug a $1 billion budget gap over five years - a PhillyStat data meeting at the Municipal Services Building, chaired by Mayor Nutter, and the first of four community budget workshops, run by the Penn Project for Public Engagement.

"We want citizens to know what the city budget is all about and the stark choices and the difficult decisions in front of us," Nutter said after PhillyStat, a data-tracking program that looks at how city services are administered.

And the choices are stark. Every department has prepared scenarios to show how 10 percent, 20 percent or 30 percent cuts would impact their ability to provide services. During PhillyStat, Nutter discussed options for the Free Library, Fairmount Park, the Recreation Department, the Department of Human Services, Public Health and the Office of Supportive Housing.

Department heads said they were cutting back during tough economic times that make their services even more vital.

"We have seen in the last two years an increase in homeless families," said Dainette Mintz, director of the Office of Supportive Housing, who said that her fear was that homeless women and children won't have a place to go.

Donald Schwartz, deputy mayor for health and opportunity, said he thinks that the number of people who will need city health centers could increase.

"I expect there are more people who will be uninsured in the city," Schwartz said.

Although no decisions were made at the meeting, Nutter said that the city "must maintain certain standards of service."

Nutter plans to go over other departments at two future PhillyStat sessions.

The city faces a $1 billion funding gap over five years, and could end this fiscal year in the red. A previous $1 billion hole was closed last November through cuts and layoffs.

After outcry over the lack of public deliberation about cuts that the city made in the fall, Nutter outlined a massive process to get citizen input on how to balance the next budget. The effort includes PhillyStat data sessions, community visits - and public budget workshops.

Last night, more than 500 people crammed into the auditorium at St. Dominic's School, in Holmesburg, where the Penn Project for Civic Engagement held a briefing on the budget situation.

"I practically crawled here," said Suzette Pruitt, 48, of Mayfair, who said that she didn't feel well but came out of concern for her health center. "They're trying to close my clinic."

Participants broke into groups of about 20 and went into classrooms where they chose from a list of cuts and revenue options that were assigned point values, with a goal of getting to 100 points.

For example, reducing the city's auto fleet was worth 6 points, while cutting 20 percent from the police budget was 52.

City officials planned to factor residents' choices into the budget proposal that Nutter will release next month. *