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Description
From the Stated Meeting of City Council held Thursday, May 17, 2018:
Councilman Allan Domb (At Large) discusses the recent disclosure that several of the City's financial accounts have gone unreconciled for several years.
A
She'll
spend
our
thank.
You,
council
president,
have
a
few
remarks
I
wanted
to
make
today,
as
we
continue
to
debate
the
city's
budget
for
fiscal
year,
2019
I
would
like
to
address
some
concerns
and
share
what
I
believe
could
be
alternatives
to
consider
moving
forward.
At
this
moment,
we've
been
asked
to
consider
a
proposal
to
raise
taxes
on
the
citizens
of
Philadelphia.
Also
again
this
moment,
the
city
is
currently
going
through
a
process
of
reconciling
our
financial
records,
which
includes
locating
27.5
million.
That
has
not
been
found
yet
from
one
of
our
financial
accounts.
A
This
is
a
troubling
fact,
but
when
the
administration
is
working
to
rectify,
however,
my
bigger
concern
is
rooted
in
a
much
deeper
systemic
problem,
and
that
is
we
as
a
city
have
not
reconciled
our
forty
billion
dollars
of
deposits
and
checks
more
financial
records
that
expands
eight
years.
The
city's
payroll
account
10
billion
unreconciled
less
from
June
of
2010
to
June
of
2017.
The
city's
consolidated
cash
account
June
of
2014
to
June
of
2017.
We
had
we
collect
all
our
taxes
in
this
account,
including
real
estate
and
business
taxes.
Three
years
not
reconciled.
A
Eleven
point:
four
billion
unreconciled,
the
city's
general
disbursement
account
where
all
the
checks
are
written
out
to
the
city
of
Philadelphia
five
years,
2012
of
June,
the
June
of
2017
five
years,
not
reconciled
19
billion
on
reconciled.
The
city's
pension
account
where
people
who
work
for
the
city
and
get
paid
checks
three
years
not
reconcile
June
of
fourteen
of
June
of
17
1.8
billion
total
not
reconciled,
and
the
PPTA
account
10
million
on
reconcile.
A
This
is
unacceptable
for
a
21st
century
world-class
city
like
Philadelphia,
unacceptable
and
I.
Believe
it's
our
responsibility
as
a
government
to
get
our
fiscal
house
in
order
before
we
ask
for
any
increase
and
tax
dollars.
This
totals
forty
billion
of
unreconciled
accounts.
We
owe
it
to
the
fo
few
citizens
equally
important.
It
may
be
more
important
now
than
ever
will
be
our
efforts
to
collect
delinquent
taxes.
As
of
two
weeks
ago,
the
outstanding
delinquent
real
estate
taxes
for
this
city
for
four
hundred
twenty
five
million
110
million,
are
in
payment
plans.
A
A
The
215
million
of
delinquent
taxes
of
non
owner-occupied
properties
is
against
5.4
billion
dollars
of
real
estate
value.
The
lien
to
value
ratio
is
4%.
Most
cities,
look
for
anything
under
40%
to
collect
taxes.
We
are
at
four
simply
put
the
lower.
The
percent
means
the
better
opportunity
to
collect,
especially
when
real
estate
taxes
are
a
first
lien
on
real
estate,
and
I've
introduced
a
plan
to
collect
these
delinquent
taxes,
which
includes
protections
for
all
owner
occupied
properties,
as
well
as
renters
with
low
to
moderate
incomes
through
sequestration.
A
We
will
establish
programs
whether
it's
oopah
sequestration
or
other
programs.
We
are
willing
to
help
those
who
can't
afford
to
pay,
but
again
those
residents
would
not
be
impacted
by
the
proposal
when
we
go
after
those
who
choose
not
to
pay
their
taxes.
Lastly,
no
secret
I'd
like
to
see
us
take
a
real
hard
serious
look
at
the
prison
budget.
I
applaud
the
administration,
all
those
involved
in
his
tremendous
work.
Over
the
last
three
years,
we
have
reduced
the
population
from
eighty
two
hundred
two,
fifty
three,
fifty
nine
a
35%
reduction.
A
That's
amazing,
but
the
second
step
is
to
incorporate
efficiencies
with
that
35%
reduction
find
15%
savings.
The
prison
budget
with
fringe
benefits
today
at
390
million
dollars.
There's
no
reason
why
a
35%
reduction
in
population
that
the
same
amount
of
guards
is
required
or
that
20
million
in
overtime
costs
should
occur.
We
have
also
seen
an
increase
in
medical
costs
from
46
million
to
49
million,
which
will
have
cost
the
65%
more
in
three
years
and
with
the
population
decreasing.
We
have
also
seen
not
seen
any
level
of
savings
in
food
costs.
A
I've
been
told
over
the
last
12
months.
I've
talked
about
this
that,
without
closing
a
prison,
we
could
not
save
substantial
dollars.
Well,
now
we're
on
the
path
to
closing
a
prison
thanks
to
mayor
Kenney
and
the
hard
work
of
his
administration.
Thank
you,
but
we
need
to
see
a
15
percent
reduction
and
not
a
50
percent
increase
in
costs
per
prisoner.
Our
costs
have
gone
up
from
three
years
ago,
44,000
per
prisoner
to
today
66,000
I'm,
calling
for
a
15%
reduction.
This
is
50
million
per
year
of
our
prison
budget.
A
This
is
where
I
stand.
You
must
first
reconcile
imbalance
or
financial
accounts
before,
in
my
opinion,
we
increase
any
taxes.
You
must
implement
a
strategy
to
improve
our
efforts
to
collect
delinquent
taxes
from
those
who
choose
not
to
pay
before
we
expect
those
who
do
pay
for
any
increase
in
taxes.
Now
we
must
reduce
our
prison
budget
to
run
parallel
with
our
reduction
in
population
and
plans
to
close
a
prison.
We
can
find
savings
and
must
before
we
increase
any
taxes.