PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — Philadelphia Mayor Cherelle Parker is taking an unusual, new approach to funding her priorities by adding them to the current year’s budget, rather than waiting for the new fiscal year to begin in July.
Normally, mayors wait for their first budget to take effect — which is six months after they take office — before they begin spending on their own programs. Even if there’s a surplus they intend to spend, they roll it into the next fiscal year.
But Finance Director Rob Dubow said Parker didn’t want to wait, so she is retroactively putting some programs into the current year’s budget.
“Moving them into ’24 means we can start spending before July 1 and get the benefit of clean, green, safe, economic opportunity for all faster,” he said. “It was very important to us in the first year of the administration to get these programs moving.”
Council, on Monday, is considering transfer ordinances that will move some of the city’s current fund balance — which is at a record high — to materials and supplies for clean and green initiatives, a new police forensics lab, and street paving, among other items.
“We wanted to move it up because it was important to us to get these programs moving as quickly as possible,” Dubow added.