Breaking down where the City Council at-large candidates stand on Philly’s biggest issues

The heated campaign between progressives and Republicans for two seats on Philadelphia City Council has in some ways become about the national political environment as both sides try to portray their opponents’ views as extreme.

But ultimately, City Council’s primary function is not to legislate the social or cultural issues of the day. Council members develop city policy, adopt a budget, set tax rates, and consider shifts in city code for development projects. And there are key policy differences among the four candidates jockeying for two seats that are effectively set aside for non-Democrats.

» READ MORE: Your guide to the Nov. 7 election

Council is dominated by Democrats, meaning the winners of these two seats will be in a minority party. That means they’ll need support from Democrats to drive any major policy and are unlikely to advance ideas seen as outside the mainstream Council consensus.

Republicans Drew Murray and Jim Hasher are competing for the seats against Working Families Party members Nicolas O’Rourke and incumbent Councilmember Kendra Brooks.

Here’s where they stand on the major issues that tend to come before Council:

One of the most important series of votes Council members take are related to the annual city budget, which is typically passed in June. The budget is proposed by the mayor, who then negotiates with Council for several months as legislators jockey for funding for their priorities.

The budget is made up of two major parts: revenue and spending. Let’s start with the candidates’ positions on revenue (read: taxes):

Both Murray and Hasher are in favor of more aggressively reducing taxes on wages and businesses and want to reform the real estate tax system.

The wage tax is 3.75% for Philly residents, and 3.44% for people who work in the city but live elsewhere. Lawmakers have made small reductions to the tax over the last three decades, but it’s still the highest flat municipal wage tax in America.

Murray has also said he would support repealing the city’s tax on sweetened beverages, which was among Mayor Jim Kenney’s signature achievements. However, Murray has said the city must find other revenue to maintain the programs that the tax funds, including universal pre-K and upgrades to parks and libraries.

Both Republican candidates have floated changes to real estate taxes, including eliminating the real estate transfer tax for first-time homebuyers. Murray has also proposed lowering property tax rates in circumstances where property assessment increases and the tax hikes that result from them outpace inflation or standard cost-of-living adjustments.

Both Brooks and O’Rourke seem to favor keeping taxes on wages and businesses stable. Brooks has voted against reductions to those taxes, and O’Rourke has spoken positively about those votes.

As a Council member, Brooks introduced legislation to reinstate a “wealth tax,” or a levy on directly held stocks and bonds. O’Rourke has said he would cosponsor the bill.

Brooks and O’Rourke also support requiring nonprofits like universities to make payments in lieu of taxes, or PILOTs. Activists have for years pushed schools like the University of Pennsylvania, which is not required to pay property taxes, to voluntarily make payments to support the School District of Philadelphia.

The budget also sets spending to fund city programs and services. One point of contention each year is the Police Department, which has an annual budget of more than $850 million, the largest allocation of any city department.

Here’s where the candidates stand on various spending proposals:

Both Murray and Hasher say they want to increase funding to the Police Department to recruit new officers and expand community policing.

Murray said he does not have additional new spending proposals but does want to see the city move to a process of “zero-based budgeting,” or the idea that agencies develop a budget from scratch and justify all costs, as opposed to basing funding requests on past allocations. He said the process could identify waste and ensure that programs like universal pre-K can continue, even without soda tax revenue.

Hasher said Council should work with the administration to allocate more funding to address law enforcement, business growth, expanded drug treatment opportunities, and city services in Kensington.

Both Brooks and O’Rourke have been skeptical of increasing funding to the Police Department and have at times embraced reducing the department’s allocation.

In 2020, Brooks voted against a city budget proposal, saying it did not sufficiently reduce the police budget and that the force has “failed to historically make our communities safer.” The same year, O’Rourke was quoted in Grid Magazine saying that defunding the police was “less about harming the police and more about investing in our community.”

More recently, Brooks has voted for several budgets that increased funding to the department, which has seen a more than $100 million budget increase since 2020.

Both support Councilmember Jamie Gauthier’s yearslong push to increase city funding to address quality-of-life issues, such as street lighting and illegal dumping.

O’Rourke has proposed expanding the state Whole Home Repairs program, which provides assistance to rehabilitate homes in low-income areas, by having the city match state investments so the program could double in size in Philadelphia. He has also called for an additional $15 million investment in infrastructure beyond home repairs (like parks and streets) in neighborhoods most affected by gun violence.

Council members will undoubtedly see legislation come up for votes over the next several years to address public safety, whether it be gun violence, the opioid crisis, or policing.

We already discussed police funding. Here’s where the candidates stand on other issues related to safety and law enforcement:

The GOP candidates’ public safety platform is largely focused on law enforcement, calling for hiring more police officers and increasing civil penalties for code violations.

Both Republicans have been critical of progressive District Attorney Larry Krasner. Murray’s website says he will “push to reverse course on regressive policies that are soft on crime. Council has little control over the elected district attorney, but it does control the office’s budget.

Hasher has also said he favors increasing civil penalties for reckless driving or ATV racing, which may be within Council’s purview.

In addition, Hasher has said that combating the opioid crisis would be among his top priorities. He has said he would advocate on the state and federal level for new funding streams to increase access to long-term treatment and hold drug smugglers accountable.

Both Murray and Hasher oppose supervised drug consumption sites, where people can use drugs and be revived if they overdose. The sites are prohibited in most of the city after legislation advanced this fall by Council.

Their safety and justice platforms are focused on improving conditions in communities most impacted by violence.

For example, Brooks hopes to expand her work on community land purchases, which included advocating for the city to create pathways for community ownership of vacant properties that are used as gardens or side lots but are slated for sheriff’s sale. During her first term, dozens of parcels were returned to mostly Black and brown communities.

Brooks is also advocating for a “youth jobs guarantee” in impacted neighborhoods, and O’Rourke speaks often about expanding programs at parks and recreation centers to deter youth violence.

O’Rourke has also said he wants to ensure that communities with high rates of gun violence are prioritized for rental assistance and utility support, with a goal of those neighborhoods receiving support that’s 50% higher than the citywide average.

In addition, both Brooks and O’Rourke have said they support supervised drug consumption sites as a way to reduce drug overdoses. Brooks was the only member of Council to vote against legislation effectively prohibiting the facilities in most of the city.

Both Brooks and O’Rourke are endorsed by Krasner and are supportive of his progressive approach to criminal justice.

Council members who represent the city at-large have less control over specific housing and development projects because of the tradition called councilmanic prerogative, under which members defer to district Council members on land use decisions within their own districts.

Still, at-large members can decide to vote against legislation that green-lights a controversial project. And they can affect change on housing policy and availability in other ways.

Murray and Hasher each consider themselves to be pro-development but come from different backgrounds. Hasher is a longtime real estate broker from Northeast Philadelphia, while Murray has for years been a Center City civic association leader, including as chair of the Philadelphia Crosstown Coalition and a board member of the Center City District.

Both are in favor of maintaining existing tax abatements on new construction, and Hasher has floated expanding them, saying the city should offer abatements to low- and moderate-income first-time homebuyers.

He has also said the city needs to focus on bolstering the stock of affordable housing and consider increasing funding to NeighborhoodLIFT, which provides homebuyer education and down-payment assistance.

Both Republicans have also spoken positively about the Sixers arena proposal, one of the most controversial issues that Council is likely to undertake in the coming year. Hasher is all in and supports the project, which played a role in him winning an endorsement from the politically powerful Building Trades and Construction Council.

» READ MORE: The future of a new Sixers arena shifts to City Hall after a year of contention

Murray’s position on the arena has been slightly more tempered. He said he is inclined to be in favor of the arena, but is awaiting the results of a forthcoming community impact study before taking a firm position.

Brooks and O’Rourke each say that housing affordability is a key issue. Brooks was a leading voice on Council for rent control, which would allow the city to regulate what landlords can charge tenants — a policy that O’Rourke also supports. Brooks has said she is also exploring the idea of rent stabilization, a less-restrictive regulation that limits rent gouging but may not freeze rents or apply unilaterally.

» READ MORE: City Council debates rent control, angering business groups

Both candidates support ending the 10-year tax abatement for corporate projects and luxury housing.

Brooks has also been a key proponent of several other housing and development-related legislative pushes, including the city’s eviction diversion program and reforms to the rental screening process. O’Rourke has said he would support efforts to strengthen eviction diversion.

In addition, both Brooks and O’Rourke have said they do not support the arena project as it is currently being proposed. They have each expressed concerns about the impact the arena could have on the surrounding community, including in Chinatown.