PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — Philadelphia City Council recessed for the summer after a five-hour session on Thursday that saw final passage of the $5.9 billion city budget and other major measures — along with remarks that sounded like goodbye speeches from councilmembers who are considering resigning to run for mayor.
The 22-page agenda, most of which passed, included tax-relief bills that will blunt the impact of higher assessments for homeowners and bring wage taxes to their lowest level in 50 years: 3.79% for residents and 3.44% for non-residents. The bills also include a slight reduction in the Business Income and Receipts Tax, which prompted three councilmembers to vote “no.”
“I think this budget is an investment in people,” member Maria Quinones Sanchez said after it passed. “It’s an investment in non-police-related public safety issues, from dumping to potholes, and we were able to respond to the advocacy of our ethnic chambers of commerce. We need to tell people that we are open for business.”
Mayor Jim Kenney thanked Council for their work.
“I am proud of the collaboration that has gotten us to this point, as this budget focuses on providing — and in some cases expanding — core services, while maintaining our long-term fiscal health, reducing racial disparities among Philadelphians, and advancing equitable outcomes for all Philadelphians,” he said in a statement.
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Council also approved measures needed for major projects such as the Calder Museum on the Parkway, the cap over I-95, a solar project at Northeast Philadelphia Airport and the Rebuild program for city facilities, which passed after Council President Darrell Clarke introduced a bill, to be voted on next fall, that would provide additional money from the capital budget to Councilmember Cindy Bass’s district. Bass had threatened to halt the Rebuild program because her district received less money than some others.
In addition, Council approved two ballot referendums. One asks voters to approve the creation of a Department of Aviation to run the airports, which currently come under the Commerce Department. The other, to give graduates of public career and technical education (CTE) high schools a small preference for city jobs, advanced after veterans complained during the public comment period that it would dilute their own, much larger, preference.
Sponsor Kathy Gilmore Richardson, again, accused Councilmember David Oh of whipping up the opposition with false information, leading to a heated exchange, in which Richardson interrupted Oh, forcing Clarke to intervene.
“We’re not going to do this here,” Clarke said.
Other measures included earlier curfews for teenagers, tougher demolition rules, new requirements for sheet metal worker licenses and requirements for new development to help expand the city’s tree canopy.
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After voting, during speeches from members, Allan Domb unofficially began the mayor’s race with what seemed to be a valedictory.
“I’m feeling reflective, especially since this could be the last time I speak before City Council in my current position,” he said.
Under the City Charter, a councilmember must give up his or her seat to run for mayor.
Derek Green, also reportedly eyeing the office, playfully echoed Domb.
“It also gives me an opportunity to be reflective and say something that this will be the last time I have a chance to say,” he said.
Maria Quinones Sanchez, another likely candidate, also chimed in.
“Like many of my other colleagues, I may not get an opportunity to say that,” she said.
Two other members said to be considering a run, Helen Gym and Cherelle Parker, did not tip their hand.
Gym and Green both introduced legislation that they likely would have to be in council to shepherd through in the fall. Gym proposed a ballot measure to create a Prison Oversight Board. Green’s bill would require a record of sales of body armor to Philadelphia residents.
“There’s been an increase in the use of body armor in mass shootings,” he said.