Philly lawmakers approved a $165.6 million down payment on Mayor Cherelle Parker’s budget plans | Council roundup

Philadelphia City Council on Thursday approved a $165.6 million midyear budget transfer that Mayor Cherelle L. Parker’s administration has framed as a down payment on her plans for the next city budget, which will take effect in July.

The transfer bill was proposed by Parker’s administration and was approved unanimously. It will fund improvements to the Police Department’s forensics lab, new police vehicles, and a $10 million investment in the Community College of Philadelphia. It also includes $38.3 million for the Streets Department to buy new trash compactors and other materials as Parker works to tackle litter and illegal dumping as part of her “clean and green” initiative.

The overall city budget is usually approved in June, and Parker has proposed a $6.29 billion budget for next year that leaves tax rates unchanged, funds her priorities around public safety and public cleanliness, and significantly increases the size and budget of the Mayor’s Office.

That’s separate from the midyear transfer that lawmakers approved Thursday, which will affect the current budget year that began in the final months of former Mayor Jim Kenney’s administration.

» READ MORE: Mayor Parker’s $6.29 billion budget plan keeps taxes flat, increases spending on police and code enforcement

Midyear transfers typically fund unexpended costs, or redistribute unspent money. This transfer was more far-ranging because the new administration wanted to get a jump start on its initiatives, Finance Director Rob Dubow has said.

The measure sends $22.5 million in additional funding to the Police Department, $38.4 million to the Streets Department, and $15 million to the Department of Fleet Services.

Parker’s request for midyear funding drew some scrutiny from Councilmember Katherine Gilmore Richardson over an $850,000 allocation to the city’s Office of Homeless Services, which is facing several investigations about budget overruns and fiscal mismanagement.

But the dollars are earmarked, administration officials said, for payments to third-party contractors who already provided services to the city but have not been paid. The Inquirer has previously reported that some homeless shelters have gone months or even years without being paid by the city.

Building brawl: A months-long fight over a bill by Councilmember Jimmy Harrity that pitted real estate and business interests against powerful service sector unions came to a head Thursday — and the unions won.

In a 13-2 vote, Council approved Harrity’s bill to expand protections for building workers including janitors and security guards, preventing them from being laid off without advance notice if their building is sold or closed for renovations. It would also require building owners to rehire some of the workers displaced during, say, a commercial-to-residential transition.

The two no votes came from Republican Brian O’Neill and Democrat Jeffery “Jay” Young Jr.

They’re making it official: In February, four Council members announced they were forming a Kensington Caucus, and for the last two months they have played a major role in shaping the conversation around the city’s planned crackdown on the neighborhood’s infamous drug market.

The caucus, however, is an informal group. That changed Thursday, when Council approved the creation of the Special Committee on Kensington.

The committee will be empowered to hold hearings “to analyze and examine the effectiveness of current polices to further develop data driven solutions and restore stability in the Kensington area.”

Council President Kenyatta Johnson will appoint members to the committee. It’s likely he’ll include some or all of the members of the Kensington Caucus: Quetcy Lozada, Mike Driscoll, and Mark Squilla, whose districts include parts of Kensington; and Harrity, who holds an at-large seat and lives in the neighborhood.

» READ MORE: Mayor Parker’s plan to ‘remove the presence of drug users’ from Kensington raises new questions

But Johnson could appoint other members, as well. The caucus has largely defended the Parker administration’s tough-on-crime approach to Kensington. Progressives have questioned the administration’s decision to move away from harm-reduction strategies, such as sterile needle exchanges.

Always solar in Philadelphia: State Rep. Elizabeth Fiedler is a big fan of public schools and a big hater on climate change, and she managed to marry those two causes with her “solar for schools” bill, which Council endorsed Thursday.

The proposal from Fiedler, a progressive Democrat who represents part of South Philly, would create a state grant program to fund the installation of solar panels at school buildings and school-owned properties throughout the state.

“When schools generate their own electricity, it helps them to not just be able to save millions of dollars but to have financial stability,” she said.

She pointed to Midd-West School District in Middleburg, which her office says reduced its annual electric bill of $420,000 by $145,000 after taking it upon itself to install solar panels in 2020.

The grant program would be funded by the state, as well as the federal Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act.

» READ MORE: This Earth Day, can one central Pa. school save the planet? | Will Bunch Newsletter

Fiedler’s bill has passed the state House, which is controlled by Democrats, and is pending approval in the Senate, where Republicans have the majority.

Aye, queen: Council on Thursday approved a resolution honoring Sapphira Cristál, a drag superstar and contestant of the TV show Ru Paul’s Drag Race who lives in Philadelphia.

Cristál attended Thursday’s Council meeting and gave a speech about how she moved to Philadelphia after experiencing homelessness in Boston and other tribulations.

“When I moved here, it was the queerest place I had ever lived in my life,” she said. “It allowed me to be free, to be who I am.”

Cristál is viewed as the favorite to win the Season 16 finale of Drag Race, which airs Friday. She wasn’t allowed to reveal how it ends at Thursday’s meeting, but she left a hint that Philly folks will be able to understand: “Grease those poles, Philadelphia.”