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Description
Councilman Derek Green sits down with City Council’s Chief Financial Officer, Matt Stitt, to walk us through the budget process.
A
A
Thanks
for
the
hard
work
and
due
diligence
put
forth
by
my
colleagues
and
your
input
during
our
public
budget
hearings
via
phone
calls
emails
and
social
media,
we
passed
a
budget
that
did
not
include
any
property
tax
increases
and
will
provide
more
money
to
our
local
schools.
How
did
we
accomplish
this
feat?
You
ask:
what
does
the
new
budget
mean
for
you?
We
have
someone
that
can
answer
these
questions
and
more
when
we
return
with
more
public
comment.
B
I
am
city
councilman,
at-large,
al
taubenberger,
here
with
a
wonderful
family
from
the
Overbrook
section
of
Philadelphia,
who
can't
wait
to
tell
you
about
the
adventures
that
await
you
in
Scouting,
I,
love,
meeting
new
fragrance
guys,
I
am
Anna,
I
love,
learning,
English,
Patti,
I'm,
Michelle,
I
love,
creating
memories
with
my
children
and
watching
them
learn,
grow
and
develop
new
skills
through
scouting
that
will
last
them
a
lifetime.
I'm
Abraham
I
love
serving
as
an
adult
volunteer
for
my
children's
crops.
Out
back.
There
are
so
many
opportunities
for
families
to
get
involved.
C
2009
from
Haverford
started
my
career
at
American,
Red
Cross
spent
a
couple
years
there.
Then
they
did
one
year
at
independence.
Blue
Cross,
while
is
independence.
Blue
Cross
I
got
my
master's
public
administration
from
Penn
from
fellows
Institute
of
government
and
they're.
My
predecessor
taught
me
in
a
class
called
the
Treasury
function.
I
also
got
my
certificate
of
finance
from
there
Wiles
at
Penn.
She
got
appointed
CFO
city,
councilmen,
Council,
President
Clark
got
appointed
counsel
president
and
she
was
trying
to
build
her
team.
C
She
actually
reached
out
the
fells
and
asked
for
a
number
of
students
who
they
felt
would
be
a
good
fit,
and
through
that
process
my
name
was
one
of
the
names
I
was
sent
over.
She
called
me
up
brought
me
in
for
an
interview
started
as
an
analyst
and
I
was
back
in
2012
and
then
since
then,
I
just
kept
climbing
and
2016.
When
she
moved
on
to
the
airport,
I
was
interviewed
for
her
to
CFO
role
and
got
chosen.
A
C
The
biggest
difference
is
lots,
lot
more
meetings
and
you
have
to
build
a
lot
more
relationships
with
what
I
consider
to
be
my
clients
was:
are
all
of
seventeen
independently
elected
council
members
and
building
trust,
building,
helping
build
confidence
and
continuing
to
better
that
relationship.
The
the
difference
is,
you
have
to
think
a
lot
more
strategically
my
support
role.
C
It
was
more
behind
the
computer
running
the
analytics
doing
the
fiscal
impacts,
doing
the
budget
analysis,
doing
the
research
and
really
helping
the
people
who
I
was
supporting
mainly
the
CFO
at
the
time
throughout
when
I
got
appointed,
CFO
now
I'm,
managing
so
I'm
managing
a
team
of
analysts
who
are
now
doing
the
some
of
the
things
that
I
used
to
do,
and
now
it's
it's.
It's
transition
to
doing
the
work
and
for
managing
people.
A
When
you're
talking
to
make
better
informed
decisions,
you
also
talked
about
the
budget,
and
so
one
of
the
big
decisions
that
City
Council
had
to
make
this
year
was
passing
the
budget.
Actually,
every
year
we
passed
a
budget,
and
so
that's
a
big
part
of
your
job
as
chief
financial
officer.
So
give
give
me
some
perspective
on
what
is
the
budget
process
and
know
people
talk
about
budget
season.
So
what
does
that
entail?
Absolutely.
C
Well,
I
have
to
start
by
Twenties.
Father
came
in
here,
so
the
first
budget
that
we
passed
as
a
council
was
FY
13
budget.
We
just
recently
passed
my
19th
budget.
It's
been
seven
consecutive
years
and
we
used
to
FY
is
in
fiscal
year
fiscal
year
fiscal
year
and
the
seven
consecutive
years
of
at
least
what
I
consider
to
be
responsible,
balanced
budgets,
one
time
which
is
I
believe
something
that
isn't
celebrated
enough
in
a
city
of
this
size.
C
With
this
many
issues,
this
council
and
even
the
administration,
two
different
administrations
for
two
different
mayor's
still
find
a
way
to
get
a
budget
passed
one
time
a
balanced
budget
passed
the
time
and
even
when
we
look
at
some
of
the
challenges
at
the
state,
we've
never
really
run
past
the
fiscal
year
without
having
a
budget
in
place,
pretty
ensuing
just
sweet
here.
With
that
said,
the
budget
process
on
council
side
typically
starts
around
January
and
that's
when
we
start
our
planning,
but
we're
always
planning
for
the
next
season.
C
C
So
logistically
we
have
to
set
up
the
operations
of
that
and
from
a
process
standpoint
we
have
to
ensure
that
information
is
flowing
from
administration
to
Council
to
meet
the
members
needs,
so
they
can
understand
each
department
and
understand
their
priorities
that
they
might
be
willing
wishing
to
see
in
the
budget
or
pushing
the
budget,
and
so
it's
it's
it's
a
whole
operation,
sigh
that
starts
in
January
planning
all
up
into
March.
Once
March
starts,
it's
then
you're
in
gear.
It's
almost
like
it's
almost
like
a
robotic
function.
C
At
that
point,
you
know
each
day
you
have
a
lot
of
hearings.
You
have
to
make
sure
that
we're
compliance
or
there's
all
types
of
advertising
requirements,
there's
a
war
requirements
and
it's
in
short,
at
the
department
heads
everybody's
aware
of
their
dates
and
when
you
have
to
come
in,
but
then
we
also
have
to
do
the
analytical
side.
At
the
same
time,
we
have
to
comb
through
thousands
of
pages
of
budget
documents
and
that's
just
on
the
operating
budget
side,
which
each
budget
package
there's
a
spending
package.
C
But
then
there's
also
a
revenue
package
which
includes
tax
policies
and
whether
there's
a
proposed
increase
in
taxes
or
not.
Our
team
also
will
analyze.
You
know
the
whatever.
The
proposal
is
whether
is
coming
from
Council
older
mayor,
in
terms
of
what
revenue
that
might
generate.
If
there's
going
to
be
a
positive
or
negative
impact
to
our
local
economy
and
just
number
of
scenarios
that
were
constantly
running
throughout
the
process,
to
try
to
use.
A
A
C
A
You
talked
about
some
of
the
complexities
of
putting
together
the
budget.
You
know,
we
know
that
the
city
of
Philadelphia
is
the
largest
city
in
the
Commonwealth,
so
we
have
to
deal
with
the
governor's
budget
and,
what's
gonna
happen,
Harrisburg
the
General
Assembly
we've
got
other
pressures
like
pension
issues
and
other
dynamics.
The
fact
that
the
city
has
a
large
level
poverty.
So
how
do
you
balance
all
those
computing
pressures
and
dealing
with
18
independent
elected
officials?
When
you
look
at
the
mayor
and
seventeen
members
of
council,
it's
a
great.
C
Question
I
don't
know
if
I
can
answer
that
in
one
short
segment,
but
it
is
very
complex
and
I
think
part
of
it
is.
We
have
a
team
that
is
very
adaptive
and
very
fluid.
We
are
good
with
rolling
with
whatever's
thrown
at
us,
whatever
cards
that
are
laid
in
front
of
us
as
a
relay
pertains
relates
to
the
state
budget.
One
of
our
challenges
as
a
city
is
that
our
budget
usually
gets
passed
before
a
state
budget
does
and
obviously
one
of
the
most
pressing
issues
over
the
past.
C
A
A
This
as
we
close
this
interview,
you
mentioned
education
funding
and
one
of
the
big
issues
this
year
that
you
know
the
mayor
proposed
in
his
budget
initial
budget
address
that
it
was
gonna,
be
a
6%
property
tax
increase.
Then,
when
the
property
assessments
came
out,
that
was
reduced
down
to
four
and
a
half,
so
councilor
came
up
with
a
budget
that
did
not
increase
property
taxes.
A
C
And
this
year
might
have
been
the
most
challenging
year
for
at
least
our
function
within
City
Council.
Because
of
that,
when
the
mayor
first
proposed
his
budget
with
a
6%
property
increase,
the
goal
was
to
adequately
fund
school
district
and
their
fund
balances
their
deficit
through
the
next
five
fiscal
years.
Leaving
done
with
over
a
hundred
million
dollars
in
the
school
districts
fund
balance
at
the
end
of
the
fifth
year,
whether
whoever
has
an
opinion
of
if
that
was
absolutely
necessary
or
not
it
just
made
it
made
it
challenging.
C
The
biggest
reason
why
it
was
challenging
this
year
is
because,
with
the
reassessments
that
occurred
citywide,
there
were
lots
of
variances
and
inaccuracies
seen
across
the
city
which
council
reacted
by,
you
know
doing
the
RFP
to
engaged
the
firm.
That's
going
to
audit
the
office
of
property
assessment
just
to
ensure
that
the
the
property
valuations
across
the
city
are
more
accurate,
going
forward
and
which
we
believe
is
the
most
responsible
thing
to
do
before.
Actually
raising
a
real
estate
tax.
B
C
C
The
first
thing
we
did
was
we
slowed
down
the
proposed
rate
reductions
of
the
wage
tax
and
now
was
actually
a
proposal
by
the
administration
and
council
agreed
with,
and
that's
gonna
provide
three
reporting
million
dollars
over
five
years.
We
also
increased
the
general
fund
allocation,
the
city
contribution
to
the
school
district
by
twenty
million
dollars.
That's
gonna
carry
out
over
five
years,
so
it's
a
hundred
million.
C
Over
five
years,
and
uniquely
this
year,
we
actually
cut
the
prisons
budget
by
fifteen
million,
which
we
felt
was
appropriate,
given
the
dramatic
reduction
in
the
census
population
in
prisons
and
the
closing
of
the
House
of
Corrections,
shifting
the
savings
from
prisons
to
schools.
That
kind
of
try
to
reduce
the
schools
to
Prison
Pipeline
and
the
fourth
thing
we
did.
We
actually
made
five
million
dollars
of
other
strategic
cuts.
C
When
you
add
all
of
these
together
in
the
city's
budget,
we
weren't,
we
did
not
raise
the
tax,
but
still
came
up
with
six
hundred
seventeen
million
dollars
over
five
years,
which
I'm
sorry
also
includes
the
sequestration
trying
to
ramp
up
the
sequestration
program
and
I
was
actually
very
proud
of
not
just
Council
I
mean
my
team,
all
a
City
Council,
it's
one
of
the.
It
was
very
difficult
because
of
all
of
those
moving
pieces,
and
you
know
it's,
it's
probably
easier
from
a
from
an
administrative
standpoint
to
just
raise
the
tax.
C
A
So
Matt's
fit
thank
you
for
joining
us
today
on
public
comment
and
thinking
for
the
work
you
do
as
chief
financial
officer
for
City
Council
and
helping
us
to
balance
the
budget
which
benefits
all
people
in
the
city
of
Philadelphia.
Coming
up
next
on
public
comment:
we'll
go
to
our
social
media
segment.
A
We
move
now
into
our
social
media
session
before
I
get
to
our
social
media
questions.
A
number
of
people
on
social
media
asked
questions
regarding
the
issues
regarding
the
reconciliation
of
city
bank
accounts.
Now
the
city
hired
an
accounting,
firm
and
they'll
be
coming
out
report.
This
fall
provide
more
information
to
the
public
regarding
the
reconciliation
of
city
bank
accounts.
Now
into
the
questions
now
that
the
budget
has
passed.
What
are
some
of
your
top
concerns?
A
Question
2,
although
605
million
has
been
dedicated
to
fun
schools
over
the
next
five
years,
do
you
feel
that
more
should
have
been
done?
Question
3?
Are
you
happy
that
there
was
no
property
tax
increase
and,
finally,
as
a
citizen,
do
you
feel
you
had
enough
access
and
information
about
the
budget
process?
It's
not
what
changes
would
you
like
to
see
on
Facebook,
Jessica,
Garin
States
and
the
tax
abatement
on
new
home
construction
or
factor
in
a
cost
dedicated
to
improving
neighborhoods,
older
housing
stock?
A
A
Next
time
on
public
comment,
we
head
back
to
class
and
discussed
a
newly
installed
local
school
board,
we'll
get
some
perspective
on
how
they
are
doing
and
their
vision
for
the
future
of
public
education
in
Philadelphia.
That's
all
I
have
for
this
edition
of
public
comment,
my
thanks
again
to
our
guest
City,
Council,
chief
financial
officer,
Matt
stit,
and
thank
you,
my
fellow
Philadelphians
for
watching
renowned,
filmmaker
David
Lynch
said
it
best.
Philadelphia
is
my
greatest
inspiration.
Let
us
be
the
global
inspiration
and
example
that
we
were
born
to
be
I'm.