Philly voters approve $180 million bond question

Philadelphia voters approved a $181 million bond in Tuesday's election, something voters have done every year for more than two decades.

That will allow the city to issue bonds to pay for maintaining and building capital projects in parks, at museums, and for transit and municipal buildings. With 91 percent of the vote tallied, the measure was being supported by a more than 7-3 ratio.

Mayor Kenney thanked voters for backing the measure, his spokesperson said in a statement.

"The [fiscal year 2019] capital budget supports strategic commitments to new facilities, as well as ongoing modernization of existing capital assets," wrote Mike Dunn, the mayor's deputy communications director.

The authorized borrowing will be split into several pools of money, including $5.1 million toward transit projects and $26.6 million toward parks and recreation and museums, among others.

Before issuing these bonds, the city already has an outstanding debt of $5.5 billion, including interest, to be paid through 2047.

Issuing bonds to pay for large projects is typical of city and state governments, said Patrick Christmas, the policy program manager for watchdog group Committee of Seventy.

The $180 million bond sounds large, but it's significance should be measured against the city's operating budget, he said. For fiscal year 2019, it's $4.7 billion.