Former Philly budget director Marisa Waxman will lead a state agency that oversees the city’s finances

Former Philadelphia budget director Marisa Waxman has been named executive director of the Pennsylvania Intergovernmental Cooperation Authority, an important but little-known state-controlled agency that oversees city finances.

Waxman on Monday took over the top staff role at PICA for Harvey Rice, who is retiring after serving as executive director for nine years.

PICA’s main role is to annually review the city’s five-year financial plan after the mayor and City Council approve the city budget. PICA’s staff publishes a report examining whether the plan is based on reasonable assumptions about the city’s fiscal position, and its five-member board, which is made up of Harrisburg appointees, votes on whether to approve the plan.

» READ MORE: State board that oversees Philadelphia’s finances gets extended for 25 years

Waxman said she wants to continue PICA’s watchdog mission while also making it a resource for the city.

“The challenges the city has faced over time have evolved,” she said. “I’ve got a lot of experience with the city’s budget. I also spend a lot of time exploring what [other cities] and other jurisdictions are doing.”

Waxman, 44, served in Mayor Jim Kenney’s administration until April. She left the city to take on a role with the U.S. Treasury Department, where she oversaw the distribution of federal funds sent to local and state governments in response to the coronavirus pandemic. (Before Waxman took the job, Philadelphia was allocated $1.4 billion from that program, which was paid for by the American Rescue Plan.)

She previously worked in the city controller’s office, and she has two degrees from the University of Pennsylvania.

As budget director, Waxman appeared before the PICA board many times to defend the city’s budget plans.

“Having worked with Ms. Waxman in her prior roles, I know that the subject matter expertise and energy that she’ll bring to the role will build upon Mr. Rice’s work to support Philadelphia’s ongoing fiscal stability in the years to come,” said Alan Kessler, a Duane Morris lawyer who is prominent in state Democratic politics and serves as the board’s vice chair.

Asked how she will maintain PICA’s independence from the city given her previous role in the administration, Waxman noted that the first five-year plan that PICA considers during her tenure will be the first of the new mayoral administration, meaning she will not have had a role in crafting it.

But ultimately, Waxman said she is answerable to PICA’s board, which includes appointees from the governor and the Democratic and Republican leaders in the General Assembly.

“The independence of PICA is in large part due to those board members and the appointing authorities,” she said.

PICA was created in the early 1990s as part of a state-crafted rescue plan when the city was on the brink of bankruptcy. Under the plan, PICA issued bonds that were to be repaid with city wage tax revenue but were backed up by the state’s credit.

PICA was then tasked with annually examining and approving the city’s five-year financial plans until the bonds matured, at which point the agency would be disbanded.

That would have meant PICA would have ceased to exist this year. But with the backing of city leaders, the state last year extended PICA for another 25 years.

Despite Philadelphia’s rampant poverty and gun violence, the city government is as fiscally sound as it has been in more than a generation, and PICA has received credit for helping with the turnaround. The city’s credit ratings have steadily improved, the pension system’s unfunded liability has shrunk considerably, and the city has for several years maintained a healthy annual budget surplus.

“That’s been a really important tool that Philadelphia has had now for many decades,” Waxman said of PICA. “We just don’t think shortterm, but we’re thinking long term with our finances.”