PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — Nearly 100 people testified in Philadelphia City Council on Wednesday in the final day of hearings on next year’s budget. About a dozen of the speakers were city employees complaining about staffing levels.
The final day of budget hearings included pleas for more funding for the arts, the Philadelphia Energy Authority, the traffic safety program Vision Zero, better illegal dumping prevention, the Labor Department and a pitch for more city workers to make all those programs run better.
“Invest in your municipal workforce,” said prisons social work manager Chris Snyder, one of several speakers who urged Council to ensure all city jobs get filled.
The city has made progress in hiring but at last count, there were still more than 5,000 vacancies — about 14% of the positions budgeted. Members of the city workers’ unions testified about the problems the high vacancy rate creates. Librarian Catherine Martin said the biggest need at her Nicetown branch is for computer classes, which it can’t offer.
“We have a fully-equipped computer lab, with eight new networked public computers and yet we have no staff member to run the programs that our community demands,” Martin said.
Social worker Gennifer Reed said understaffing is what created this year’s record $1.2 billion fund balance.
“This isn’t found money. It’s withheld investment from the people who keep Philadelphia running. It is a dereliction of duty to sit on $1.2 billion when our departments face vacancy rates that would put a private firm out of business,” she testified.
“This surplus was built on the backs of social workers carrying triple caseloads and Parks and Rec staff that act as teachers, security and babysitters and prison staffing. That's so low, it’s criminal.”
The workers urged Council to make sure hiring is a priority in the new budget.
The Parker administration did not respond to requests for comment.
