PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — A routine bill in Philadelphia City Council this week triggered days of frenzied negotiation after members struggled to reach a consensus. That may be a glimpse of how Council will work next term, when leadership changes hands.
It was the annual mid-year budget transfer ordinance, when the mayoral administration moves money from places that got more than they needed to unexpected costs or underfunded programs. Normally, Council does a little negotiating with the administration, led for the last 12 years by Council President Darrell Clarke.
But Clarke is retiring. With just a month left in his term, according to several members, he took a back seat this time around, since he’ll soon turn leadership over to Kenyatta Johnson.
That left a leadership vacuum. Members negotiated not only with the administration but with each other as they tried to claim a piece of the large surplus in this year’s budget — thanks to federal COVID-19 relief, which is non-recurring.
The Kenney administration balked, wanting to leave the incoming mayor, Cherelle Parker, with a healthy fund balance to begin her term. The tug of war lasted until Thursday night, when Clarke stepped back in, according to several accounts. Clarke declined comment. Council reconvened at 9 p.m. so the bill could get a first reading and pass before this council’s term expires.
Council got an additional $15 million dollars to spend — $4 million for anti-poverty nonprofit The Promise and $11 million for various other programs, including St. Christopher’s Hospital for Children, the fourth time the city has shored up the hospital’s finances.