Philadelphia City Council FY2018 Budget Hearings, 2 Mar 2017

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From YouTube: Mayor James Kenney's FY2018 Budget Address to Philadelphia City Council 3-2-2017

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Mayor James F. Kenney delivers his FY2018 Budget Address to the members of City Council.

Proposed FY2018 Budget documents: bit.ly/FY18PHLbudget

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The time has come for us to consider the mayor's presentation of his annual budget message to fill off the Home Rule Charter states that the mayor shall submit to Council no later than 90 days before the end of the fiscal year, his operating budget message and proposed operating budget ordinance for the ensuing fiscal year. At this time the mayor shall submit the council.

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The recommended capital program and capital budget has received from the City Planning Commission to the extent approved by the mayor, an outpoint, the following committee to escort the mayor into the council chambers, councilman Heenan Councilwoman, Reynolds, Brown, councilman, gray, Lee, councilman, O'neill and Councilman.

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Thank you very very good morning. It's.

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Almost like a mr. mayor, I have to personally introduce you.

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You're, eager and I am, ladies and gentlemen, I'm pleased to introduce the mayor of the city of Philadelphia, Mayor, James, F Kennedy,.

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Thank you very much and thanks to me, the invitation. Let's I, missed this place and I miss all of you. I see you occasionally in the doing business, with our administration and and and conversing with our staff, but it's not the same as being a member here and I do truly miss it.

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So thank you, council, president and city council members for inviting me to speak today, it's hard for me to believe that a year has already passed, I'm, even more stunned when I think about all we were able to accomplish together last summer or Philadelphia, earned widespread praise as the site of the DNC, the Democratic National Convention for being an excellent host to both presidents and protesters over the course of the event.

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50,000 visitors, patronized, our hospitality industry and thousands of the demonstrators peacefully exercise their First Amendment rights without a single arrest, thanks to no part of the hard work of our Police Department and councilman Jones's effort that could decriminalize several nonviolent offenses. The city also took new steps to protect philadelphians. Fourth, amendment rates.

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We instituted new police accountability measures to better ensure that pedestrian stops are based on reasonable, reasonable suspicion and not the color of one's skin, and we protected the trust that our law enforcement officers have built with Philadelphia's immigrant communities, in particular Councilwoman quinones sanchez advocated for the resources immigrants need to fully emerge in the shadows over the last year. Excuse me, councilman Greenlee, also defended Philadelphians right to equal pay for equal work and I was pleased to sign that bill. Through his bold legislation.

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We may finally see progress on a problem that has persisted for decades. The city also made important strides in creating more workforce and affordable housing. Thanks to the leadership of council president, the council president Clark and councilman Johnson, the Philadelphia Land Bank, recently issued two RFPs to create workforce housing in Francisville and Point Breeze. In addition, the city and the Philadelphia Housing Authority worked together to develop a comprehensive plan to increase affordable housing in Philadelphia.

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This plan, which included more than 50 goals and strategies, was approved just last week by the US department of housing and urban development, making Philadelphia the first large city in the country to receive approval for its plan.

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Pha PHA board a PHA board member councilman Blackwell has been unwavering in her commitment to ensuring every Philadelphia family has an affordable place to live. We only earned this honor because of her dedication. Of course, our most hard one accomplishment last year was secured the funding necessary for pre-k Community Schools and the rebuild project.

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City Council's greatest vote took our city's fight against poverty to a whole new level. To date, the Philly beverage taxes funded to 2003 quality, pre-k seats and nine community schools serving 4,500 students.

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How community school coordinators have already brought invaluable services to their students, seventy-five percent of whom live at or below the poverty line? These services, which are also available to students, families and the surrounding community, ranged from expungement clinics and food pantries to apprentice opportunities in the trades and much more phl pre-k is also providing quality early childhood education, the families that never before could have afforded it the average household income a family to apply to this program is just thirty-four thousand dollars a year.

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The program has also enabled eighty eight pre-k providers, seventy-five percent of whom are minority or female small business owners to expand and create over 250 jobs. All said, the Philly beverage tax will allow the city to dedicate nearly half a billion dollars over the next five years. The programs specifically proven to reduce poverty.

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However, as we all know, our work is just beginning currently of the top ten major US cities, Philadelphia ranks, first in poverty and last in job creation. We will only reverse those rankings when we provide our residents with the basic tools they need to be employable and when we create family, sustaining jobs to employ them. Last year, we laid the groundwork for an education system that will allow all our students to succeed in the workforce, but pre-k and Community Schools will only provide these students with a pathway out of poverty.

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If there is a job at the other end, others will never be able to take advantage of these new opportunities if they remain trapped by the consequences of poverty, such as lead, poisoning or homelessness. With that in mind, we ask you, the members of the City Council, to invest in two major areas in this year's budget. We ask you to lift up our most vulnerable by increasing resources that will improve their health and well-being, and we also ask you to support job-creating initiatives that will increase economic opportunities for all of our residents.

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Specifically, this budget proposes a significant investment in fighting the terrible, opioid opioid crisis that we face. Last year, approximately 900 people died of drug overdoses and the hearing held by Councilman o demonstrated that councilís more have had their careers and families stolen by addiction. While the city has already created 500 additional methadone treatment slots, we must do more. We are proposing to expand the distribution of naloxone naloxone to the 10,000 Philadelphians and their families at risk for overdose, particularly in the fare Hill Kensington section.

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We are also requesting the funds necessary to target the Philadelphia doctors, who prescribed the most opioids and educate them.

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Remember these are doctors, educate them on how to stop putting their patients at risk for addiction and, finally, we're asking for the money necessary to create a real-time database to track openings and treatment facilities so that we can get those seeking treatment into recovery more quickly. I'm also asking Council this year to make an additional investment in treating and preventing childhood lead poisoning, while lead poisoning.

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While that poisoning has been steadily declining for years, even one young future destroyed by this horrible condition is one too many. This new funding would nearly double the number of homes that the Health Department inspectors will reach each year. It would also allow us to increase our preventive outreach, offer additional remediation and strengthen efforts to hold negligent landlords accountable to build on this investment, and the ante led legislation sponsored by Councilman Reynolds Brown. The health department will launch a children's health agenda this spring.

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This agenda will help coordinate city agencies and nonprofit partners to ensure the Philadelphia children ages, zero through five get off on the right foot and remain healthy throughout their adulthood.

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With the partnership of the state, we also want to do more for the young Philadelphians in our child welfare system. Current staffing levels require each DHS attorney to handle an average of two hundred and forty cases. Our five-year plan proposes adding ten lawyers to DHS, reducing overall caseloads by about 30%.

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Dhs projects that Children and Youth will be moved through the court system more rapidly, allowing more permanent placements to be achieved. This budget also increased the supports more foster families. More currently ask the supported child on just it's little more than $21 a day in order to appropriately support these families and to encourage more families to join the system. We are asking the council provide funding to increase that stipend to nearly $36 per day over the next five years.

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This budget also proposes a significant investment in reducing homelessness thanks in part to many of you, especially Councilman Jim Philadelphia is able to increase homeless youth services by 12 percent. Last year. We also launched the shared public spaces initiative in November to leverage the support of our private and nonprofit partners in reducing aggressive, panhandling and chronic homelessness, but we still have more work to do our annual point in time count found that homelessness is on the rise to address this challenge.

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We are asking Council to support a total of 83 units and rapid, rehousing and supportive housing. Rapid rehousing focuses primarily on families who have become homeless, moving them quickly out of a shelter and into a community. Setting supportive housing is particularly effective for those suffering from mental illness or addiction, with a 90 percent success rate of preventing a return to homelessness. Both types of housing will allow our system to become less reliant on shelter beds, which are very costly and less successful, and ultimately returning our homeless citizens to stable living arrangements.

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These critical investments in reducing homelessness, opioid addiction, lead, poisoning and reducing DHHS caseloads will all go a long way towards ensuring that our kids have access the opportunity when our children will only be able to fulfill their potential in Philadelphia. If we produce more family sustaining jobs, Philadelphia is the fifth largest city in the country. We should be competing with New York, LA and Chicago, but instead our economic growth is trailing Baltimore's and Detroit's to change that dynamic. Our budget continues to lower wage and business taxes.

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Nearly every Task Force commissioned committee and working group that has looked at how to improve Philadelphia's economy has noted that our tax policy consistently holds us back. While we must reduce these taxes gradually in order to avoid making devastating cuts through our services, these steady reductions have been impactful.

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The wage tax is at its lowest level since the 1970s and 60 thousand small businesses no longer pay business income receipt taxes as a result of additional reforms enacted by this very council I also employ applaud city council on its plans to review old regulations that make Philadelphia a difficult place to do. Business I'm confident this effort will help the generate much-needed job growth right now. Half of Philadelphia's jobs are located in the center city and University City. In order to create opportunity for all of our neighborhoods.

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This budget proposes investments that will drive economic growth in all of our communities. Specifically rebuild has the potential to catalyze economic growth in dozens of Philadelphia neighborhoods, as we've seen as we have seen in Dickinson Square and Penn sport, Cedar Park in West, Philly, Columbus, Square and Passyunk Vernon Park in Germantown and pleasant playground amount Airy renovating these public spaces is so much more than just a facelift.

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It draws new business and investment to the communities to have long felt left behind so I've, submit to you today for your consideration in ordinance to kick off the rebuild program. I'm copy I.

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Am I am I am confident that, through this ordinance, we will be able to finalize a program that is open and transparent invests in our most under that underserved neighborhoods enhances growth, promotes diversity and Economic. Opportunity includes longtime community members and leverages the expertise and effects protists and efficiency of partners in our nonprofit sector.

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The capital program will dedicate 90 million dollars over the next six years into the transformation of tens landing into an economic hub for decades, I-95 has been a barrier to economic development and recreational activity of Penn's Landing and the surrounding neighborhoods by finally funding a cap to link Philadelphia's valuable waterfront with the city's core. This project project is expected to have a return of 1.6 billion dollars in economic benefit over the next 25 years.

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And I want to recognize councilman squirrel in particular, for making this idea a reality. It's been discussed for a long time and he was critical in bringing all the necessary partners to the table. Our capital program also continues the city's commitment to commercial partners through a combination of 25 million dollars in new investment and existing available funds. The Commerce Department will work to reinvigorate Main streets across the city. Projects are already underway to light up the market.

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Frankfort l carter reactivate the maple wood mall, improve the pedestrian experience at south street head house and to increase security cameras across our neighborhood commercial carter's. We will also continue to support Councilwoman Parker's successful powerup, your business program at the Community College to date, more than 50 businesses, representing more than 17 zip codes, have benefited from this targeted. This targeted support support for neighborhood businesses. Our administration will also continue to look for other innovative ways to assist small business, to build on the success of the capital consortium which councilman green champion.

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From the very start, the Commerce Department will begin providing specialized technical assistance. The small businesses that applied for one of Commerce's programs but were not granted Funt granted funding due to poor financial reporting or other essential business criteria.

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These businesses are often minority-owned allocated in low-income neighborhoods by providing them resources, Commerce expects to help them grow and expand. Our second budget also increases the city's commitment to helping create jobs for philadelphians, with barriers to employment, particularly disconnected youth and the formerly incarcerated.

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Among other investments, the manning director's office will implement a new workforce development program called city as model employer. This initiative will connect 200 individuals who already work as seasonal or temporary city employees to bridge positions. These positions will help develop the skills required to secure and retain entry-level positions with the city or an employer partner. We will also make Philadelphia stronger economically by investing in our public infrastructure and public safety.

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Our capital program proposes an additional 30 million dollar investment in septa and a 170 million dollar investment in road repaving that will finally allow our city to meet national standards. This investment is in line with recommendations made by the controller last year. Last fall for the first time. The city's budget also dedicates significant funding division 0 each year there are approximately 100 traffic related deaths in Philadelphia, including drivers, passengers, bicyclists and pedestrians. As Councilwoman bass has been saying for years.

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These deaths were preventable and there is no excuse not to act to prevent future tragedies over the next five years. Our administration will invest millions towards improving Road Safety through clearly designated pedestrian routes and other engineering changes. Education in our schools and communities and enforcing slower traffic speeds to save lives.

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We are also proposing a significant investment in our fire department this year. The spike fire prevention fires remain a serious problem in Philadelphia firefighters risk their lives to successfully extinguish an average of eight severe fires per day last fiscal year in the process rescuing and treating numerous trapped occupants. Our paramedics are also faced with increasingly high service demands across Philadelphia, especially in Center City during normal work and commuting hours. To address these challenges, we ask Council to approve additional funds for staffing and training, as well as improvements to aging fire houses and outdated equipment.

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I want to recognize and thank councilman, Heenan and O'neil, in particular, for being consistent advocates for our firefighters and first responders.

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The police department's budget also continues their commitment to keeping crime low and increasing accountability. Specifically, it will make infrastructure improvements, it's a high-need districts and it will continue to the rollout of body cameras with the ultimate goal of outfitting all patrol officers by the year 2021.

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Additionally, over the next year, we will create a holistic plan that incorporates all of our violence prevention strategies. Last year, the department of behavioral health and intellectual disability services launched a new anti violence initiative, call the network of neighbors responding to violence, this community-based program taps into a neighborhood social connections, the foster healthy coping and prevent retaliatory violence. By evaluating this program, alongside our other violence prevention strategies, including focus deterrence ceasefire and the youth violence reduction partnership, we expect to improve their overall effectiveness to aid our corrections officers.

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We are also proposing to replace their current training facility, which is largely largely if you can believe it housed in an attic. The new modern facility will significantly increase classroom space and improve training areas, allowing our officers to be prepared for crisis, while also learning how to best rehabilitate those in their care. In the just a public-safety, this budget also enacts recommendations made by the commission that was formed in the aftermath of the 22nd and Market Street building collapse.

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The department of licenses inspections will now have qualified on-call engineers, who can determine the cause of structural fares and make immediate recommendations. This is particularly important, giving Philadelphia's current development boom. Excuse me, it's estimated that thirty-one commercial mixed use, high-rise projects are currently under construction, and another five have been issued building permits already this year in order to ensure that the office of property assessment is keeping pace with this development boom.

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This budget also increases staffing to assist with our commercial reassessments that maintains outside experts to ensure accuracy and, of course, I specifically want to thank councilman Allen Dom for urging us to action on this issue, as well as councilman talbin burger for helping us to close the real estate transfer tax loophole.

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The final major change proposed in our second city budget is pension reform. The city's annual pension contribution has grown by over two hundred and thirty percent since fiscal year 2001 these increase, increasing pension costs have caused us to cut important public services. While the pension funds health has actually grown weaker. In fact, our pension fund has actually dropped from 77% funded to less than 50% funded. During the same time, our contributions were rapidly increasing. There is current clearly a systemic problem.

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Here we have to address so I averaged counsel to adoptive our administration's plan to get the pension fund 80% funded in 13 years. Our great workers at District, Council 33. Our largest union, has already accepted this plan. The future.

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For future employees that utilizes a stacked hybrid model and for our current employees, it requires increased contributions that rise with their incomes. Most importantly, it allows us to keep our promise of a secure retirement for all of our employees. I wish there were more investments that I was able to share with you this year. The Philadelphia's ability to fund even basic services will continue to be hampered until our pension fund is healthy. We double our economic growth and we specifically reduce our pot significantly reduce our poverty rate.

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These may seem like the focal goals to achieve, but last year, I watch. This council come together and face down enormous pressure from a billion-dollar industry in order to better serve our children. I know that now, in the face of even greater threats from Washington and Harrisburg, we will come together again it's in order to serve those who depend on us and I just want to talk to you a little bit about a personal story that I learned and had an opportunity to talk to one of our citizens. Gentleman's name is Eric grant.

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He is a dad and in the venture, in the United States Army and served our country, the heads of three children and one is Michaela who's. Three years old, she started her first day of pre-k this year, and that was wonderful for Michaela was also wonderful for the grand family because of the cost of daycare and pre-k mr. grant had to stay home while his wife went to work and he stayed home to watch the children. So now, when mr. grant dropped off Michaela at pre-k, he went to a job interview at the post office.

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He is beginning orientation on Monday in his new position. This effort has freed up families to go out and continue to work and earn more money.

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And that's a wonderful thing and may I say that with all that's going on, I mentioned this earlier in my discussion in my presentation, but we don't know what's coming out of Washington and we don't know what's coming out of Harrisburg and every day it's something different, and it's not good.

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But the thing that I am sure of is that all of us, this philadelphians, all of us who love the city and the diversity and strength of racial diversity, ethnic diversity, gender diversity, LGBT folks, all of us together are under attack and we need to stand up together. That's happened in the 60s.

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Have mentioned this before at different events, and I will mention it again, because I think it's important I was born and raised in the city and I will leave. I will leave life in the city, I will pass on in the city, and I have never felt such instability and lack of surety.

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Since 1968, when I was 10 years old and 10, when I was 10 years old in South Philadelphia, it was the height of the Vietnam War. The Tet Offensive had started dr. King and Bobby Kennedy had been assassinated. There was an election with Richard Nixon, Hubert Humphrey and George Wallace kids in our neighborhood people, who are a little bit older than Marx bill and myself were coming back and flag-draped coffins one with my cousin, the neighborhood was torn apart.

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Parents were fighting their kids about the Vietnam War people were marching in the streets to obtain the rights that were guaranteed to them in the Constitution and were never provided, and people were at each other and scared. Each other and angry and free and I've not felt that way since then, but I feel that way now. But the thing that I thought about as I thought about that time in my life as a kid in South Philly, we got through it.

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It passed that all past now nothing's perfect and we have a long way to go with lots of areas of our social interaction and social pattern, but we got through 1968 as a nation as a state as a city, and we can get through anything if we have each other's back. Stick together, show love and affection and care for each other and march forward into the future together. Thank you very much.