PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — Mayor Jim Kenney put the emphasis on equity and inclusion, Thursday, as he delivered his sixth budget address to City Council, outlining a $5.6 billion spending plan with no new taxes but anticipated new revenue from the restarted property reassessment program.
“Across every investment in this plan, we will target our dollars and our efforts to reverse the impacts of structural racism on our communities and our workforce, and to make concrete improvements in the lives of all residents while also paying close attention to those most marginalized in the past, in their safety, their health, and their economic well-being,” he said a video posted to the city’s website.
The emphasis drew praise from Council President Darrell Clarke, who predicted some adjustments to the proposal, as usual, but otherwise easy passage.
“Diversity and inclusion is clearly something members of Council are interested in. That’s been reflected in the legislation and program we put together,” he told KYW Newsradio after the address. “So we will basically adopt what the mayor indicated that they’re prepared to do as it relates to making sure everyone in the City of Philadelphia has a real opportunity.”
Spending increases in the budget focus not on new programs but rather on building and expanding initiatives the mayor began in his first four years and continuing efforts undertaken in response to the pandemic, the increase in violent crime, and the expected influx of federal funds through the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law.
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The budget does include one new pilot program, called READI (for Rapid Employment and Development Initiative), designed to provide economic opportunity to those most likely to be involved in violent crime. The program was developed in Chicago in response to gun violence there.
That is included in an 18.4% increase in anti-violence funding. The mayor said keeping residents safe was his “No. 1 priority.”
“I can’t help but think of all the incredible potential that has been extinguished by this crisis and the loss of life over the past several years,” he said. “Because our young people can do anything. I see it every time I visit a school, a rec center, or one of our pre-K centers.”
It was the only time in the address when emotions may have threatened to break through his delivery.
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Council members were generally supportive, but several called for more spending in particular areas.
Councilmember Kathy Gilmore Richardson, for example, wanted to see more money for environmental sustainability, an issue she has championed.
“After two years with devastating flooding and some of the hottest summers on record, we are not fully resourcing our commitment to carbon neutrality or to protecting our most vulnerable communities,” she said in a statement.
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Councilmember Isaiah Thomas called for more investment in after-school activities and safer roadways.
Councilmember Kendra Brooks stuck by her proposal for a wealth tax, even after the mayor pointedly rejected the idea as impossible under the state’s uniform tax rule.
The Defender Association of Philadelphia criticized the budget for not increasing its funding.
“This is an issue of fairness and efficiency,” Chief Defender Keisha Hudson said in an email. “A Defender office that can't adequately keep pace with the increasing court cases will bog down our courts. It leads to more people languishing in jail, waiting for their trials, which contributes to the existing social and economic crises for their families and communities. These conditions only contribute to the violence and public safety crisis that Philadelphia is currently experiencing.”
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But Clarke indicated this budget may have an easier time passing than some prior Kenney budgets with more ambitious proposals, such as the soda tax that passed his first year in office.
“There were not a lot of things that were proposed that I can foresee as presenting a problem,” Clarke said. “When you start out by saying you’re not increasing taxes, you’re halfway there in terms of getting your budget approved.”