PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — As Philadelphia budget hearings got underway, City Council members expressed concern about the potential loss of federal funding.
Parker administration officials sought to assure Council that Mayor Cherelle Parker’s $6.7 billion budget proposal is fiscally responsible. Finance Director Rob Dubow acknowledged the uncertain climate in which the city is operating, but tried to reassure members the budget strikes a balance between caution and moving the city forward.
“We tried to capture that in our projections, while at the same time not losing sight of the fact that we are a city of great needs,” he told Council. “We have to keep making investments. We can’t be paralyzed by the uncertainty.”
Council members, however, were clearly worried about how federal worker layoffs would impact the city’s wage tax revenue — and how the budget would hold up without the billions in federal grants the city receives. Councilman Nic O’Rourke said that was a reflection of constituent concerns.
“Nearly every day I hear the same concerns, some variation of the question, ‘With everything happening at the federal level, what is the city doing to protect us?’” said O’Rourke, who noted the city received $3 billion in grants in 2024.
Tiffany Thurman, the mayor’s chief of staff, told Council members the administration does what she called a “geometric if-then” exercise around every proposal to be sure it can’t be derailed by setbacks.
“We always have another plan,” said Thurman, “I don’t call it a ‘Plan B’ because the mission is the mission and we’re going to continue on the mission, but we will employ different tactics.”
This budget includes a $95 million federal grant reserve. Dubow said the number was somewhat arbitrary but provides a cushion. “If a grant were cancelled and we thought it was a service we really needed to provide, that funding could go to make up for the loss of that grant.”
City solicitor Renee Garcia said the Trump administration's attempts to end grants to the city so far have been struck down in court. “This administration is teaching me patience because truly it is a cycle of, they do something, there’s a lawsuit, there’s an injunction, the money starts flowing. So it is something we are monitoring truly by the hour.”