PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — As expected, Philadelphia voters approved four ballot questions on Tuesday. Here's what will change as a result.
One thing likely to be popular is the end of what is known as the "rule of two" in city hiring. The city charter had stated that only the top two scorers on the civil service exam could be finalists for a job.
When the practice was adopted, reform-minded Philadelphians wanted to establish city hiring as a meritocracy, in reaction to runaway patronage when Republicans controlled city politics. However, 70 years later, city managers say it had become an obstacle to diversity and inclusion in hiring. The new language will allow the personnel director to decide how many candidates can be interviewed for a job.
More controversial is the change that will guarantee minimum annual funding for the Housing Trust Fund. Critics had said that was a bad budgeting policy, but mayors will now have to work around the built-in spending the next time there is a budgeting crisis — such as the one caused by response to the coronavirus pandemic — and the city has to make ends meet.
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Voters also approved establishing a Department of Fleet Management to oversee the city’s 6,000 vehicles.
And a fourth measure, with absolutely no force, puts a clause in the charter calling on the state to legalize marijuana. It will either become moot, when the state does, or be a permanent reminder of the city’s lack of influence.