COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF PHILADELPHIA COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS Room 400, City Hall Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Monday, December 1, 2025 1:00 p.m. PRESENT: COUNCILMAN MARK SQUILLA, CHAIR COUNCILWOMAN KATHERINE GILMORE RICHARDSON, VICE-CHAIR COUNCILWOMAN CINDY BASS COUNCILWOMAN JAMIE GAUTHIER COUNCILWOMAN QUETCY M. LOZADA
Good afternoon, everyone. Welcome to the hearing Committee on Appropriations today, Monday, December 1st. I know for the hour. A quorum of the committee is present. To my left, Councilmember Gauthier, Councilmember Bass, myself, and Councilmember Lozada. This is a public hearing on the Committee on Appropriations regarding Bill No. 251027. Mr. McMonagle, will you please read the title of the bill.
Good afternoon. Bill No. 251027, authorizing transfers in appropriations for Fiscal Year 2025 from: the General Fund, the Water Fund, the Water Residual Fund, the Grants Revenue Fund, the Aviation Fund , and the Transportation Fund, all from certain or all City offices, departments, boards and commissions; to: the General Fund, the Water Fund, the Water Residual Fund, the Aviation Fund and the Transportation Fund, all to certain or all City offices, departments, boards and commissions.
Thank you. Mr. McMonagle, can you please call the first person to testify. Take roll.
I already did. Can we please have Sabrina Maynard. (Witness approached witness table.)
Sabrina, when you're ready, just state your name for the record and proceed with your testimony.
Good afternoon. Sabrina Maynard, Budget Director. Good afternoon, Chair Squilla and members of the Appropriations Committee. I'm Sabrina Maynard, Budget Director. I'm here to testify in support of the Fiscal Year 2025 year-end transfer ordinance. You have also received written testimony from each department with a request in the transfer ordinance and representatives of those offices are also in attendance today. The annual year-end ordinance is a routine ordinance 13 that we transmit every year during the fall. It's necessary for our financial statements and is intended to make sure that our final appropriations for last fiscal year, the one that ended in June, align with that year's obligations, what we actually spent. Most of the items in the ordinance are for departments that went slightly over their FY25 personnel budgets and Class 100. The FY25 year-end transfer ordinance bill proposes transferring appropriations within and between the General Fund, the Water Fund, the Grants Revenue Fund, the Aviation Fund, the Transportation Fund and the Water Residual Fund. The areas to be addressed by this ordinance are outlined in the testimony we've submitted and I'm happy to take any questions from the committee at this time.
Thank you for your testimony. If there are questions or concerns or any challenges with this, what is the latest that this ordinance 21 would need to be passed out in order to be effective?
Yeah. So there are numerous steps in the process between closing out our fiscal year and getting to the end of February when we issue our audited financial statements. There are a lot of steps we go through with the Controller's Office. This is one of the critical steps that happens around this time to make sure that we're able to get documents over to the Controller's Office and close out our books so that we can get our audit completed by the end of February.
So what is the ramifications if this was not to be passed out?
It would be a technical default on our bonds if we were not able to close our books.
Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Good afternoon. I just have a question as to how so many departments are so far over budget when it comes to personnel?
So one of the -- actually I think it's a success story that we've seen kind of in the last year. We've started to see departments that have really turned around their hiring. So we have a number of departments who've netted more positions than they've had before. And we've actually -- since Mayor Parker took office, we've added about 1600 General Fund positions. So we're really starting to see that turn around. It's something we'll be looking at as part of this budget to make sure there's alignment between where we have the Class 100 and where we're filling positions. It's been an area where we've had some challenges for the last couple of years.
Well, it's great that we're able to hire up and find the talent that we're looking for. But I guess I just don't understand how it is that when we go through the budget process in the spring, you know, when it comes to Class 100, it's all laid out in a lot of detail in terms of this number of positions, these are the salaries, the salary range, this is the amount. So, for example, your department may have, I don't know, $2 million. So if you spend $2.5 million, I don't understand how that happens. I know that here in Council we cannot go over our budgets for staffing. So as much as we'd like to hire as many people as we could, talented folks and have them on board and be able to provide more services, it would be a great thing but we just can't go over budgets, I still don't understand how that happened.
Yeah. There are some areas where some of these are driven by higher overtime than we had anticipated, which is part of what some of the drivers are, particularly in kind of public safety departments. So we had some events last year that drove overtime above what we'd had expected. So that includes -- we had the parade back last winter. We had the plane crash. We had the enhanced Code Blue. So there are areas where it's not just salaries, it's also some overtime that drives some of these.
If you could get information to the Chairman in terms of what departments are seeing this kind of an increase over budget as a result of unexpected overtime, that would be great.
Thank you, Madam Chair. For the record, I'd like to recognize Councilmember Gilmore Richardson being present for the hearing. Is there any other questions from members of this committee? (No response.)
Hold on. Hold on one second. Councilmember Gilmore Richardson.
Thank you. Thank you very much, Mr. Chair. Thank you all so much for being here. My apologies for the tardiness. I wanted to just ask a couple questions in my preparation for this hearing in reviewing a few of the documents that you all submitted to us. And if you could just provide a brief explanation for the following: If you could just explain the increase in spending in OHS Class 100?
Yes. OHS netted a number of positions over the last year. They had been down positions for quite a while. And I think I have to double check the number, but I think they netted 27 positions. So they're one of the success stories that's been able to hire.
I believe. I'll double check that number, but I think it's 27.
Okay. Great. And while you're checking, I recognize that the spending is going to be partially offset by an internal transfer, correct?
That'll be from three of the different classes, I believe?
Yep. When there are transfers, it'll be from 200, 300, 400. Those are typically where they pull from.
Okay. Could you just explain the underspending in each of the classes, I think it's $60,447 from Class 200; $9,234 from Class 300; and $37,421 from Class 500.
Mm-hmm. I believe the total of the transfer is $102,102. But the breakdown in the three classes was 200, 300 and 500.
Yeah. So there was underspend in FY25 in those other classes. I'd have to follow up with the department to get the backup for what the specifics were for those underspend items.
Okay. And I'm only asking because based on the testimony, it states that it's a partial offset by the internal transfer.
Yep. So the amount that 100 was over by there was less to pull from other places. So we can get you the breakout of how that breaks out by class.
Okay. And for Health, is there entirely offsetting your PayGo contribution with Class 200 underspend, if you could explain the underspend in Class 200?
So there were a number of areas for Public Health where their projections came in just below what they had appropriations for. And so, those funds are being reallocated to the health center projects.
Okay. And I think I heard you around OHR when I came in regarding the increase in their payroll costs; is that correct?
That's another department that's seen success in hiring and retaining folks.
For Revenue, I think theirs was in -- one of the other funds was in -their Water Fund, so I think that was again higher payroll than anticipated in the Water Fund positions.
Yes. That one stated also increase in payroll costs.
Yes. I think they hired more folks, but I'll double check on that.
And then for Fire, they have a Class 100 overspend with internal transfers primarily from Class 300. If you could explain the Class 300 underspend?
Yep. There were some materials and supplies costs that have been anticipated that didn't come through, but we can follow up with the details.
You said materials and supplies and equipment?
Is that related to the plane crash? I think I heard you talking about that when I came in.
And for Law Department, $21,102 in Class 100 to fully fund payroll costs. Is that the same as OHR and Revenue?
Yes, Law has also been one of those departments that's seen more folks than they had anticipated and been able to retain those folks. I think that was in the Aviation Fund.
Yeah, Aviation Fund I see here $156,962 in Class 100; Water Fund, 14,989 in Class 100 and General Fund, $21,102. Is this all related to increased hiring around enforcement? I know we have worked with them in the previous budget regarding additional inspectors for enforcement around the drug paraphernalia stores.
I think the Law folks are here actually. If they want to talk about some of the hiring they've been able to do.
Thank you. I'm sorry. I had my eyes dilated so I can't see very well. (Witness approached witness table.) CITY SOLICITOR GARCIA: Good afternoon. Renee Garcia, City Solicitor. This spending is because some of our folks are sort of embedded at the Airport and Water, so this is an exchange for those people's salaries. But we have hired, fully hired everybody for our Code team that was allocated for this fiscal year.
And then that includes the folks that we worked on around for Law for your enforcement portion of the drug paraphernalia bills? CITY SOLICITOR GARCIA: That's right. That's the Code team. So they are now fully staffed.
Okay. The Code team? CITY SOLICITOR GARCIA: The Code --
I'm sorry. I didn't hear you. CITY SOLICITOR GARCIA: The Code team, C-o-d-e.
Okay. Excellent. All right. Thank you very, very much. CITY SOLICITOR GARCIA: Thank you.
Thank you, Councilmember. I also for the record would like to recognize Councilmember Isaiah Thomas present for the committee. Are there any other questions to this testimony? (No response.)
Seeing none, Mr. McMonagle, is there anyone else here to testify?
We have no 24 further people to testify -- could we -- District Attorney Larry Krasner. (Witnesses approached witness table.)
Thank you, Larry. When you're ready, just state your name for the record and then proceed with your testimony. DISTRICT ATTORNEY KRASNER: Good afternoon. Larry Krasner, District Attorney for the City of Philadelphia. And I'm joined by First Assistant Robert Listenbee, also by Chief of Staff Jen Lin, and we have with us, among others, our Chief of External Engagement and Government Affairs. That would be G. Lamar Stewart as well as other key leaders of the DA's office. In the event there are questions, they're all available for those questions. If I may, good afternoon to all of you, Philadelphia Council President Kenyatta Johnson, who of course is here in spirit; Majority Leader Katherine Gilmore, Richardson, Appropriations Chair Councilmember Mark Squilla and Councilmembers Lozada, Thomas, Bass, Gauthier. I think I got them all. I want to start out by telling you that I speak not really in my own capacity, because as you may well know, my salary is set. I'm not here for my money, but I am here for the continued and much appreciated support of 650-plus attorneys, law enforcement members, support staff and victim services professionals who are employed by the DA's office and work very hard every day. I won't get into the specifics, but I'm sure you're well aware of some of the really remarkable achievements that we have all seen together and achieved together in the City of Philadelphia in this last year. And I want to thank City Council for the support that we received in FY2025. I think it is quite clear on the numbers that we have been fiscally responsible with that support. I can certainly answer questions about it. But because we have been so fiscally responsible, because we have kept our word in terms of the tremendous support supplied to us by City Council as well as the Mayor, I'd like to talk a little bit about some requests that we have for FY2026, just allude to them. I know we'll have a longer conversation about it later, because I think they are actually very important to all of your constituents and to all of my constituents in the city of Philadelphia. 6 million in Class 100 midyear appropriation in the General Fund to fully fund payroll costs connected to ongoing and new public safety, violent crime and modern enforcement related initiatives. These items I am confident are very close to many of your hearts because I know you well and I have heard time and time again the issues for which you advocate. So if you'd please just bear with me on that, I would truly appreciate it. Our entire executive team and the DAO staff remain committed to a balanced, comprehensive approach to prioritizing public safety through modern enforcement strategies and by supporting prevention, violence prevention, violence intervention and interruption efforts throughout the city of Philadelphia. In order to achieve these things, our office continues to seek just and effective consequences and accountability for offenders. It continues to try to get innocent people out of jail by exonerating them and continues to fund anti-violence community-based organizations through the DAO's Violence Prevention Grant Initiative. That of course is money that does not come from the city. That's money that comes from drug dealers and it comes from criminals. It's money they either gain through their criminal activity or it's the value of their assets that they use. It has played a role and we are delighted to have been in a position to assist in that regard since that money is not available for other expenses in our office. As you know, this office provides critical trauma support to victims, witnesses and survivors through direct and referral services of the DAO's external Engagement Division, including our CARES Unit, which of course works intensively with the families of homicide victims, our Victim Services Unit, our Community Engagement Unit and Relocations Unit.
Our efforts to achieve high quality and fair prosecution are supported daily by the DAO's Assistant DA's Victim Services team support staff as well as the professional women and men of our law enforcement community who are actually assigned to the Philadelphia DA's office as Philadelphia County detectives and also as detailed current Philadelphia Police Department personnel. Our law enforcement staff lead investigations, provide support to witnesses and survivors in relocations, provide transportation support to the Commonwealth's witnesses who are testifying in court in very complex cases and also provide subpoena services ahead of preliminary hearings, trials and other court proceedings. I also want to take this opportunity on record to publicly affirm the professional hard work and the very effective and capable work of our law enforcement in the city of Philadelphia who go to work every day, often put their lives on the line while ensuring the public is safe. It has been my pleasure and my honor to work effectively and collaboratively with our police commissioner, Police Commissioner Bethel, with his executive team, with our sheriff, Sheriff Bilal and her team, and also other local and state law enforcement as well as to work in ways that are very collaborative and very positive with FOP Lodge 5 President Roosevelt Poplar and his executive team. I want to thank you again for the work that each of you do daily. And by you, I mean our law enforcement partners to improve the criminal justice system and ensure the safety of residents of our city. Philadelphia DA's office continues to strengthen its external partnerships with local, state and federal law enforcement and our faith-based partners and government partners. We stand together with Mayor Cherelle Parker in working to make Philadelphia the safest, cleanest and greenest big city in America with economic opportunity for all. In this FY26 midyear transfer, which I understand is not the main topic today, the DAO will be requesting new funding for additional staffing in alignment with the city's priorities. And by the city, I mean Council as well as the Mayor, of continuing to reduce gun violence, particularly involving prolific offenders as well as further dismantling complex drug, sex and labor trafficking operations in the city, all of which of course make us exactly what we want to be, safer, cleaner, greener with economic opportunity. The DAO is committed to the hiring and retention of diverse, frankly, extremely talented attorneys and support staff. I've never seen anything like this crew. They're an amazing bunch of talented people focused on the collective goals of the DA's Office in the city. Building upon successful components of our FY2025 retention strategy, we at the DAO are heightening our focus and resources on investigations, prosecution of gun offenses for prolific offenders, organized retail and house theft offenders and carjacking carjackers with additional focus on auto theft crimes. The enormous caseloads handled by our DAs require robust retention practices to keep the talent in the building, with a focus on reasonably compensating our attorneys in alignment with the increased costs of living in the city and recognition of their intensive workload and their voluminous opportunities outside the office. Oh, trust me, other employers are circling all the time and we do not need our team to run over there to work on car crashes. We need our team to be right here, driving down homicide numbers, driving down crime numbers, violent and property crimes across the city. There are ongoing efforts that we have been able to engage in thanks to you.
Additional ADAs have been hired within our gun crime strategies and prevention collaborative, specifically in our Major Trials Unit, under the leadership of ADA Angela Brennan, who many of you know -- and if you don't, I hope you get to know her -- to provide prosecutorial support in seeking justice for victims, co-victims, witnesses impacted by violent crime. These ADAs are prosecuting shootings, robberies by gun, home invasions by gun and cases related to felons illegally possessing firearms. Those trials are often jury trials. They are sometimes trials in front of judges and they require the best. And we do provide some of the very finest attorneys I've ever seen frankly. These ADAs also work collaboratively with other units within the gun crime strategies and prevention collaborative, including the DAO's Gun Violence Task Force, our Homicide and Nonfatal Shooting Unit, our Family Violence and Sexual Assault Unit and our Intelligence Unit to share information, intelligence and resources for purposes of strengthening the investigation and prosecution in efforts to ensure successful and just case outcomes. These ADAs work collaboratively with the DAO's Victim Services Unit and Relocations Unit, streamlining timely and critical trauma support and other necessary services for those impacted by violent crime within the city and county of Philadelphia. Support with this specific budget request will ensure that all ADAs is working within the Gun Crime Strategies and Prevention Collaborative are being compensated equitably with other peer colleagues who are prosecuting the most violent offenses and cases within the criminal justice system. The Philadelphia DAO plans to achieve its public safety goals in collaboration with local and very, very friendly and very effective federal justice partners by strengthening the operations of its previously City Council funded earmarked initiatives. And once again, thank you for funding these initiatives, such as organized Retail Inhouse Staff Task Force, Cleaner and Greener Enforcement Unit, which is primarily about dumping, Labor Crimes Enforcement Unit, Carjacking Enforcement Unit and the Gun Crime Strategies Prevention Collaborative. With ongoing funding in support and the support of City Council, we hope to build on these efforts by launching a few new enforcement initiatives before the end of FY26. I won't go much longer, but I do want to name those initiatives for you because as I said, I know some of them are near and dear to many of you. There are three. Number one, Dangerous Drug Offender Division. The DAO will expand our existing unit into a division to develop and foster more robust short-term and long-term narcotics investigations. We are not talking about little stuff on the street corners. We're talking about the big stuff. We're talking about taking down the whole corner, shutting down the family that owned it for two decades. That's what we're talking about here. We're talking about really effective, serious investigations through this expansion, which will mirror in ways the best of federal law enforcement style investigations, investigations I know well from 24 years spent in federal court. DDOD, that would be our Dangerous Drug Offender Division, would operate extensive wiretap surveillance operations and increased focus would be placed on priority corners and drug houses. Yes, I know this may sound familiar to some of you, especially Councilmembers Lozada and Squilla, because we spoke about this in a room full of people when we were focusing on Kensington. Well, we meant it then. We meant it now. We would love to do more work on priority corners drug houses, also known as trap houses, throughout the city of Philadelphia. That's Item 1. Item 2, strengthening the operations of the DAO's Gun Violence Task Force, which has been a tremendous engine for taking down shooting groups, reducing gun violence in the city, in collaboration with all of our partners.
And I know that this is an issue that may be very close to, among others, Councilmember Bass and also Councilmember Katherine Gilmore Richardson, both of whom have spoken to me at length and in detail about these issues, and I truly appreciate all of that input. The DA's Office will extend the operations of the Gun Violence Task Force, strengthening prosecution of street group-related shootings and straw purchasing of guns in support of the city's Group Violence Intervention Program. GVI and GVIP, sharing intelligence with law enforcement partners, including forensic and social media intelligence. We provide this support to the FBI. We provide it to the ATF and other federal, state and local law enforcement. In addition to working all the time with PPD, it is vital to the success that we are seeing in the city. Third and final one of these initiatives is DAO's Human Trafficking Task Force, and I know that this is something that's important to every member of Council, but those members include Councilmembers Gauthier and Lozada, with whom I have spoken on this topic in the past. The Philadelphia DA's Office is requesting targeted funding to address cases involving sex and labor trafficking in collaboration with local enforcement and community-based organizations due to the complexity and underlying challenges inherent in charging and prosecuting these cases, which involve compelling, forcing or coercing a person to engage in commercial sex acts or provide labor without proper compensation and protection. The DAO aims to assign these cases at the early stages to seasoned attorneys from the offices family violence and sexual assault unit as well as to DA county detectives to help ensure greater collaboration from the very beginning of a case referral through the later stages of conviction and sentencing with other cities, state and federal agencies, who are all equally committed to combating the exploitation and criminal acts of assailants who prey on minors, prey on women, prey on immigrants and prey on other diverse and vulnerable populations. Once again I want to thank you for your patience. I understand some of this. There's a little bit of a trailer for the movie coming later. I understand that, but you are appreciated and I always enjoy the opportunity to speak to you. And we stand in frankly a somewhat unique position, at least during my career which dates back in criminal justice in 1987, when we can look back and we can say, yeah, we did some things right, we did, and we need to keep that going. We need to do that. I'm extremely grateful for all of your support and I am very hopeful that we can meet, talk, discuss, exchange ideas and work together moving forward, so that Philadelphia can go from being claimed to be chronically violent to being known for being consistently safe. Thank you.
Larry, thanks so much for your testimony. Councilmember Gauthier.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. Good afternoon, District Attorney Krasner, and good afternoon to your team as well. I wanted to express support for a number of items that you brought up, but particularly the drug piece. And I know you referenced the work with Councilmembers Lozada and Squilla, and certainly that's been a big issue in their districts but in mine as well. My office is currently deeply ingrained in efforts on three blocks now to disrupt drug activity and sometimes it feels like Whack-a-Mole, right. You find one trap house and then they move it to another trap house or you continually cite businesses that are connected to the drug activity, and it seems like sometimes they move faster than we do. So definitely wanted to express support for strengthening this aspect of our enforcement all over the city where it's needed. Thank you so much. DISTRICT ATTORNEY KRASNER: Thank you so much, Councilmember.
Thank you, Councilmember. Also, it's good to have a preview of the request coming in the future, but it also gives us time to look at maybe other things that we would even be requesting to maybe look at maybe different opportunities also, as this moves forward and in the future. Do you have obviously specifics that you want to do, but is there -- you didn't mention this, but the Retail Theft Task Force that you had, do you see that continuing into next year and would that be something that you wanted to further? DISTRICT ATTORNEY KRASNER: Councilmember, thank you for that. Yes, we absolutely would like to continue that. We've seen a lot of success with that. As I'm sure you're aware, the numbers as of today for retail theft show that it's down close to 10% at the moment, and that's a reflection of a whole lot of good work by other people and some good work by us as well. It's our hope that all of these initiatives everywhere where we have seen success, that we're able to keep funding going, we're able to keep working on that. That's an extremely important priority for small businesses and large businesses as well. So we are 100% in support of that. And I also want to say we are entirely open to ideas coming from Council about their priorities. We have our own way of thinking about this. We have our own opinions. We've come before you in the past with eight or nine initiatives. That's not necessarily helpful because it means you have to sort through nine to figure out the ones that you're prepared and able to support. I read three because we're trying to learn from -- we're trying to do better every day. But if there are priorities for you -- since we do have the advantage that we're not at the deadline yet, if there are priorities for any of you in Council, we'd love to hear about it and we'd love to think about it with you.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. Thank you for being with us this afternoon. Can you talk to us a little bit more about the Dangerous Drug Task Force that you are looking to fund. Specifically, how would it impact or how would it contribute to the work that we have already started doing as it relates to substance abuse disorder in the Kensington community? DISTRICT ATTORNEY KRASNER: Well, I can tell you this, if we look back at what has occurred during this DA's administration, we had what I think is a really good example of what could come of this funding. It was in 2019. It was an intensive investigation of a multi- generationally owned corner, Kip and Cambria, where the drug dealing was so dug-in that it was a father- son operation, that there were over 60 professional drug dealers. We're not speaking of people suffering from addiction on the corner with a few bags in their hand. We're talking about professional drug dealers. This is what they did. And over 60 of them were arrested in an investigation that went on a few months. That is a model that does not actually exist in federal court or in state court. And I say that based on almost 40 years of doing this. Federal court tends to do that kind of work but over a period of years and in great detail. It goes on for a very long time before the trap is snapped, before the arrest is made. State court traditionally has been much more involved in shorter-term, quick investigations that don't necessarily get the head of the octopus. They don't necessarily get the people who actually own the corner, because the people who own the corner protect themselves that way. Kip and Cambria was a hybrid. It fell right in the middle. It was a few months. It wasn't a few years. And it was done with all the tactics the Feds use, wiretaps, for example, warrants, things of that sort. It had a very significant impact. I can't tell you whether or not the impact continues to this day. But every time I've asked about it, I've been informed it had a very serious impact that went on for years in that community. We should do more of that. It's just not generally done. So I would love to see support for that. The reality is we could do five Kip and Cambrias a year. I wouldn't be sitting here talking about something that happened a few years ago once we could do it if there were resources for things that are not always done at the state level. If there was more going on with wiretaps, more going on with technology and pole cameras, things of that sort, we have the talent, we have the ability to do it. But what we have currently is a Dangerous Drug Offender Unit that involves a few attorneys and a few detectives. If we could simply expand it, I'm not talking about enormous expansion, I'm not talking about 10 million bucks, but I am talking about expanding it from a unit to a division, I think that we could in close collaboration with DEA, which works closely with us all the time, with PPD which works closely with us, I think we could do a lot of good. And frankly, we could do a lot of damage to professional drug dealers. COUNCILWOMAN LOZADA Thank you for that. I really am -- I would really like to see the work that this particular task force can do, right, because we have a lot of -- we talk about it all the time. There are multiple billion dollar open-air narcotics operations in the 7th Council District. And I think that if we could get some type of control over this, right, if we could stabilize this open-air drug market in the 7th Council District, I think we could use it as a roadmap to be able to respond to other neighborhoods in other parts of the city of Philadelphia, right.
But I think that for some of our residents when they hear that there are different city departments that are talking about more money to respond to open-air narcotic sales but we depend so heavily on our federal partners to be able to do some of this work that takes them years, they feel kind of -- they're frustrated, right, because they want to see us respond to the Russell Streets, to the Heart Lanes, to the Clementines, Lippincott, all of those neighborhoods that we know operate and destroy our neighborhoods every day. 6 will really respond to the every day, the on-the-ground nuisance quality of life that is being impacted on the day-to-day by the residents of the city of Philadelphia, particularly in the Kensington community. So I really want to stay as educated as I possibly can and want to support whatever the efforts are to be able to see that happen on the ground every day. So thank you for that. As it relates to the Retail Theft Task Force, are we prepared for 2026 and the influx of people that will be coming into neighborhoods and how some of our organized retail theft professionals will be taking advantage of the fact that there's going to be so much activity. Are we prepared to support some of our retail businesses along our commercial corridors in neighborhoods? Are we ready to partner with some of our city public safety officials to respond to some of the retail theft that we've seen in neighborhoods? DISTRICT ATTORNEY KRASNER: Well, first of all in a moment I'm going to ask Kim Esack, who is essentially in charge of our retail theft efforts and has become almost a national figure in that regard, I'm going to ask her to give you a few more specifics. But just in relation to some of your other comments, number one, I personally invite any and all of you who would like to be in a discussion about the Dangerous Drug Offender Division and their work and how it might go. Your ideas matter to us. We would like to be able to get granular about this. As you know, Councilmember, we did have discussions of this nature in a different context, but we are delighted to do that. And make no 2 mistake, when you have roughly nine people dying from fatal drug overdoses every three days and you have roughly two people dying of homicide every three days, we have to care about both and we have to care about both deeply and I know that you do care about it. So I'm completely on the same page with you that we need to do what we can to save those lives and get those people the opportunity for treatment and hopefully get as many of them back to a sustainable life as possible. With your permission though I'd like Kim Esack, who has showed up right here, I'd like to give her an opportunity to address your specifics on retail theft in 2026. )
Good afternoon, Councilmembers. Kimberly Esack. As you know, I am the supervisor of the Economic Crimes Division, which includes the Retail Theft Task Force. And to answer your question, Councilmember, yes, we are fully prepared to continue this on in 2026. The only thing that can even slow us down slightly is staffing. And the more staff we have, the more we can do. Whenever we lose staff, the DA works very quickly to refill the staff in the unit because it is one of the priorities there. There are staffing issues everywhere in all DA offices, but we're not letting that stop us from doing the work that needs to be done. We're still engaging in the outreach. We fully engage our community outreach team. They are helping us now with the smaller businesses in the cities that weren't so much coming forward to us to let us know the difficulties that they're having in the communities. The big box stores were on -- we're on a first-name basis with them, but we wanted more of the community outreach. So that has been one of the priorities with G. Lamar and his team, that they have been making sure that everyone out there knows that they can reach out to us. And we're continuing those relationships on a daily communication with the Philadelphia Police Department, with all the detectives that have been specifically assigned there for this task force. And so, long as the PPD keeps that up, we'll be able to keep this going. From what they've told me recently, it's going very well for them with the community, with the app that they created that the store members have really fully engaged that as well as the line patrol officers. So you have the people who are designated specifically for the task force, but then you also have the people who are patrolling the streets and they are actually actively engaging more in this. So there still seems to be a big fire with the business community in supporting this. I've been told they fully support this and they'd be more than happy to come and speak with you about it and to offer their full support. They want this to continue, and we would like to do so as well. We are still continuing our store -- we don't stop going out to the stores. We're still doing our store walks whenever they need it. And whenever there's a problem, they know that they can call me directly. They have my number, they have my email. And if they can't get to me, they can get to any one of my team members, or they can get to G. Lamar to the community outreach in the office. So I hope that answers your question. We are fully invested and committed and plan to keep this going so long as we have the support of the City and of City Council here.
Thank you. Thank you for that. And then, District Attorney Larry Krasner, how will this 2.6 also help keep programs like AMP supported? I know that AMP is also working alongside Wellness Court. How will this 2.6 also help support both of those programs to ensure that they continue into the future? DISTRICT ATTORNEY KRASNER: Well, the short answer is yes, I have always been a very big, very strong supporter of AMP. Like any other program, there are best practices that need to change over time. There are some things in some of these programs that hopefully will be able to improve as we move forward, so it's an even more effective program. But I've always been a huge supporter. I know there's been some confusion about that at times, but that's really only because people don't necessarily remember that the Philadelphia Police Department, I think wisely, started its own prearrest diversion program. So hundreds, if not, thousands of people who in the past would have flowed directly into AMP and into other diversionary programs are actually getting diversionary programs outside of the prearrest, let me put it that way. So I fully support it, always have. To the extent that there's been a decline in some of those programs, it's simply because many of the people who used to enjoy those services are getting different services through PPD before they would even be inside of court. And once again, I applaud the Commissioner for being innovative and doing this not only with adults, not just this Commissioner, but a prior commissioner, but for now doing it with juveniles as well. Nevertheless, we will continue because diversion carefully done is extremely effective. It's extremely pro-public safety. We will continue to support AMP and we will continue to support programs that are rehabilitative, obviously wanting them to be as good as they can with some innovations.
Thank you. Are there any other questions? Councilmember Gilmore Richardson.
Thank you. Thank you so much, Mr. Chair. And thank you, DA Krasner, and to your entire team. We appreciate you all being here and for carefully notating the three specific requests that you would like us to focus on for this particular midyear. In addition, I was encouraged to see the information relative to the Nuisance Task Force and quality of life, specifically in the Dangerous Drug Offender Division and the Public Nuisance Task Force. I wanted to ensure that you receive my communication that aligns with that focus relative to the work that the District Attorneys in Bucks County, Chester County and Montgomery County announced back in late October around their 10-month investigation into smoke shops in the region. They have collectively come together to provide law enforcement strategy and sort of action steps to address really the proliferation of these smoke shops that are selling unregulated substances all over the region, but particularly here in Philadelphia. We've seen an uptick in the amount of stores selling not only unregulated substances, but skirting all of our zoning processes in order to operate these locations. It's something that you know I deeply care about. You all have worked with us, have gone out with us in the community on the tours. G. Lamar Stewart has walked the corridors with us even in the last term with my Council District Council colleagues. But I wanted to know your reaction to that announcement. And if with this potential additional request, particularly for Class 100 in the General Fund around payroll costs, if that would be something that you will be focusing on? And I will tell you that I had the great fortune to meet all of the new Assistant District Attorneys here in City Hall. They came to visit with us on a Council Session day and I had the chance to sneak out for a bit to meet with them and speak with them. Just some of the brightest minds from all across the country. Was very excited to see very many of them who are graduates from Historically Black Colleges and Universities who have chosen to come here to Philadelphia and start their very bright careers. And so, I just wanted to talk about that a little bit more, get your perspective and see what you plan to do in that arena. Because I do anticipate that now that additional enforcement is happening in the collar counties that are directly surrounding Philadelphia County, that we will continue to see an uptick in these locations. DISTRICT ATTORNEY KRASNER: Well, first of all thank you for your kind and frankly completely accurate comments about our attorneys who are a spectacular bunch, and they do come from everywhere because they know that Philadelphia is a great American city. And that's what great American cities do. They attract talent from all over. And they are drawn to the work. The kind of work you're describing here is the kind of thing that attracts them. Number one, smoking is bad for you. Number two, all of us who don't smoke end up paying a lot of money for people who smoke. Number three, smoking unregulated substances is a whole lot worse. And number four, we need to discourage that by all legal means. That is a serious priority for me, but I have benefited from your raising the point here. We suffered a recent setback, and this is just a personal comment. An attorney who worked in our office for many, many years doing Public Nuisance Task Force, Clarence Dupree passed away about I guess it was about a week and a half ago unexpectedly --
I'm sorry. DISTRICT ATTORNEY KRASNER: -- and so, we're in a moment when I think we need to think in new ways. We need to be open to new ideas about what more can be done with that unit under new leadership. And I appreciate you raising that point. I would be happy after this session to have a longer conversation with you or any other Councilmembers who are concerned about that issue to figure out how we can fit into a larger city strategy of discouraging smoke shops that are harming an awful lot of kids, harming their lungs and doing other pretty bad things to the city.
I'm very sorry for your loss and the loss of all of the colleagues at the District Attorney's Office. And my prayers will certainly be with their family during this time. I would love to follow up with you all, chart a new path forward, particularly in thinking about the opportunity for you to be in collaboration with the other district attorneys to see how they have been able to address this issue in their counties. Obviously, they're working with a number of other cities and townships and towns. But we have a unique opportunity here in Philadelphia being the city of the first class, city and a county to address this issue. And I really wanted to do this, we are inundated ever since the onset of the pandemic, and particularly after New York State took decisive action against these locations and real enforcement, particularly in the city. We have all these folks running here to Philadelphia opening up these locations. And in some instances on some of our corridors, you'll have three, four, five, six of the same store operating in one block. And it's something that we really have to get a handle on. The only way for us to do that is to work together with you and then of course our law enforcement partners. We have been doing this work. But because there's an uptick, we have to ensure that we are meeting that moment as well. And I'm hopeful with this request that we're able to do just that. DISTRICT ATTORNEY KRASNER: I believe we would be. I look forward to that. It certainly could be an aspect of our Dangerous Drug Offenders Division, which often works with the Public Nuisance Task Force within our office. So I think that there's a real opportunity. There's also another real opportunity. Once again, a personal comment but we're going to have some new leadership in some of these DA offices around Philly and I'm very optimistic that we will have some good collaboration there.
That'll be great. Thank you so much. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Councilmember. Any other questions? (No response.)
Thank you very much for your testimony. DISTRICT ATTORNEY KRASNER: Thank you.
Is there anyone else here to testify on Bill No. 251027? (No response.)
There being no further questions from members of the committee and no other witnesses to testify, I'll ask if there is anyone present in this hearing whose name we have failed to call that wishes to offer testimony on the bills to be considered today? (No response.)
Seeing none, that will conclude the hearing and we'll go into a public meeting. I want to thank all the panel's witnesses for their participation today. This hearing will be recessed until Thursday, December 4th at 9:00 a.m. Thank you.
Okay. Good morning, everyone. On behalf of Councilmember Squilla and his Vice- Chair of the Committee on Appropriations, we welcome you to this hearing this morning. I note that the hour has come. A quorum of the committee is present. Clerk, will you please call the roll to take attendance for the hearing.
A quorum of the committee being present, this hearing is now called to order. This is the public hearing of the Committee on Appropriations regarding Bill No. 251027. This hearing will be recessed until Thursday, December 11, 2025 at 9:00 a.m. That concludes the business of the Appropriations Committee hearing this morning. Thank you. (Committee adjourned.)
Good morning, everyone. Welcome to the Committee meeting on Appropriations. The hour has come and we have a quorum present; Councilmember Lozada to my left, Councilmember Gilmore Richardson to my left and to my right Councilmember Thomas. A quorum of the committee is present. This meeting is now called to order, the public meeting on Appropriations regarding Bill No. 251021. Mr. McMonagle, please read the title of the bill.
-- authorizing transfers in appropriations for Fiscal Year 2025 from: the General Fund, the Water Fund, the Water Residual Fund, the Grants Revenue Fund, the Aviation Fund , and the Transportation Fund, all from certain or all City offices, departments, boards and commissions; to: the General Fund, the Water Fund, the Water Residual Fund, the Aviation Fund and the Transportation Fund, all to certain or all City offices, departments, boards and commissions.
Thank you. That is Bill No. 4 251027. Since we have no 5 additional witnesses and no 6 additional testimony on Bill No. 7 251027, this will conclude our 8 hearing and we're going to go into 9 a public meeting regarding Bill No. 10 251027. We are now in the public 11 meeting. 12 The Chair recognizes 13 Councilmember Gilmore Richardson 14 for a motion on an amendment to 15 Bill No. 251027. 16
Thank you, 18 Mr. Chairman. 19 I offer an amendment to 20 Bill No. 251027. A copy of the 21 amendment has been circulated to 22 all members of the committee and I 23 move that the amendment to Bill No. 24 251027 be approved. (Duly seconded.) 2
It has been moved and properly seconded that the amendment to Bill 5 No. 251027 be approved. All those in favor signify by saying aye. (Aye.)
The ayes have it and the motion carries. Chair recognizes Councilmember Gilmore Richardson for a motion on Bill No. 251027 as amended.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I move that Bill No. 23 251027 as amended be reported from this committee with a favorable recommendation -- hold on one moment -- and further move that the rules of Council be suspended to permit first reading of this bill 5 at the next session of Council. (Duly seconded.)
It has been moved and properly seconded that Bill No. 251027 be reported from this committee with a favorable recommendation as amended and in future move that the rules of Council be suspended to permit the first reading of this bill at the next session of Council. All those in favor signify by saying aye. (Aye.)
The ayes have it and the motion carries. This concludes the business before the Committee on Appropriations today. Thank you all very much for your attention.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. (Committee on Appropriations concluded at 9:15 a.m.) C E R T I F I C A T I O N I, hereby certify that the proceedings and evidence noted are contained fully and accurately in the stenographic notes taken by me in the foregoing matter, and that this is a correct transcript of the same. __________________________________ TANEHA CARROLL