Lame duck Kenney takes no risks with his latest budget proposal | Editorial

Jim Kenney is, and will be, the mayor of Philadelphia until January 2024 — whether he likes it or not. But Kenney seems to have embraced his lame-duck status and, on Thursday, proposed a $5.6 billion budget that doesn’t even attempt to make substantive change.

The budget deserves a thorough review, and that is exactly what is going to happen in the coming months in hearings and negotiations. What is clear from Kenney’s address is that the administration is out of new ideas, unwilling to set ambitious goals, and unable to provide a unified vision for how Philadelphia is moving forward.

» READ MORE: Mayor Kenney’s proposed budget increases spending for police and antiviolence programs. Here’s what it would do.

The gap between the lived reality of Philadelphians and that of City Hall was evident on Thursday. It started with the format of Mayor Kenney’s seventh budget address to Council. Even though the Philadelphia Department of Public Health declared the city “all clear” on COVID-19, and unlike President Joe Biden, who recently delivered his State of the Union address to a packed joint session of Congress, Kenney’s address was prerecorded and Council members watched it from their offices. All clear for thee, unsafe for me.

The dissonance continued, as Kenney made the case that the city’s current programs and approaches are working — so what’s truly needed is to allow them to continue, some with a budget boost.

That feels out of touch with the reality of unrelenting gun violence and overdose deaths, and estimates that Philadelphia has just experienced the biggest one-year population decline since 1975.

While Kenney declared that he is “pleased to report” that his proposal does not increase taxes, that’s not a statement that everyone will be able to take to the bank. It is true that the mayor isn’t calling for increasing any tax rates, but the property tax bills of many Philadelphians are going to increase due to resumption of property assessments after a three-year freeze — in fact, Kenney is counting on the increase to pay for $33 million out of his plan. There is reason for caution: Reassessments in the past led to big jumps in tax bills, raising concerns about both equity and accuracy.

Kenney did say that if the assessments, which are expected to be released in April, are higher than expected, he is willing to work with Council on some form of relief. We recommend starting to work on that relief plan now.

One baffling part of Kenney’s budget is that it does not show much urgency about using the city’s American Relief Fund money. In the budget that Council adopted last year, Philadelphia planned to spend $1 billion (out of the $1.4 billion) during this year and next. But the administration ended up spending only $250 million this year and now plans to spend $335 million next year. Those figures combined represent just over half of the relief money that the city intended to spend just in these two years.

While Philadelphia is allowed to spend the relief funds through December 2024, it is unclear why the administration decided to not spend the majority of money quickly to make an immediate impact on the lives of Philadelphians who are struggling right now. We understand exercising caution by putting money aside for a rainy day. But for too many, it is already pouring and they are soaking wet.

There is much more to dig into.

» READ MORE: Mayor Jim Kenney’s no-surprises budget leaves Council with decisions on taxes, police spending, and federal aid

For example: The proposal increases the Philadelphia Police Department’s funding to $782 million, a $53 million increase from the budget adopted last June. Roughly $30 million of that increase accounts for the new Fraternal Order of Police contract — even though staffing levels continue to be 8% below allocation. If the department manages to hire new officers to fill vacancies, how would that impact the budget?

To meet this moment, members of Council have come up with new ideas. Councilmember Cherelle L. Parker introduced a public safety plan, Councilmember Derek Green suggested a hiring bonus for new police officers, and Councilmember Kendra Brooks proposed a wealth tax. We hope that more creative proposals will come out of Council in the coming weeks. The city needs new ideas and it’s clear they won’t be coming from Mayor Kenney.

Philadelphians deserve clean and safe streets, libraries that are open on weekends, and public swimming pools in the summer. Kenney’s address showed us that he views much less than that as a success. Our city deserves dynamic and effective leadership. Instead all we heard was more of the tired status quo.