PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — Philadelphia City Council gave final approval to the city budget on Thursday.
Thanks to federal stimulus money, the $6.2 billion budget includes record levels of spending on education and public safety, while trimming business and wage taxes. Philadelphia’s wage tax on residents will go from 3.79% to 3.75%.
It passed with just one “no” vote from Councilmember Jaime Gauthier, who wanted even more money for quality-of-life improvements. She and Councilmember Kendra Brooks also voted “no” on the tax decreases, asserting the money would be better spent on services.
Councilmember Isaiah Thomas, however, said the tax cuts are necessary to attract and retain businesses.
“Businesses are on the ropes in this city,” he said. “They’re contemplating, ‘Do we really need to stay in Philadelphia?’ Our surrounding suburbs are incentivizing people all the time to come out of Philadelphia.”
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The city has a similar problem with employees — losing out to other governments for hard-to-fill positions. That’s why, according to Council President Darrell Clarke, the budget also includes $10 million for hiring bonuses and $3 million for recruiting police officers.
“Right now, we’re looking at 4,000 vacant positions in the City of Philadelphia. We think that investment will allow us to bring more people back to the workforce and you’ll see an uptick in service delivery,” he said.
Mayor Jim Kenney praised the final budget. It goes into effect July 1.
This was the final budget for both Clarke, who is retiring, and Kenney, whose final term ends this year.
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