-- than he did in the shelters because of assaults and robberies. I told you there would be one department that I, kind of, got to drill down on, and that is it. We can't -- we cannot -- I could not do that job. You find people at their most vulnerable, but we have to do a better job of making them feel safer. Thank you.
I'm hoping that -- I'm trying to understand the FY '26 proposed budget as related to the FY '25 budget. It's showing a $5 million decrease in class 200 which is contracts and leases. Can you explain the $5 million decrease?
Absolutely. I'll call on Rob. I'm sorry. Our Budget Director, Sabrina Maynard. Absolutely.
Thank you so much. So we are working with OHS on their budget as you can imagine. We meet with them weekly. There was some funding they did not need that was recurring. We can follow-up with some of the details.
Okay. I'm challenged to understand how we would be dealing with increases in homelessness by chopping the OHS budget for -- by 5 million or that OHS doesn't need -- doesn't need the money that they've had even in past budget years. I think it's very important to have that detail and to look at it critically given the state of homelessness in our city.
Thank you very much. The Chair recognizes the gentleman from the northwest, Dr. Anthony Phillips, Councilmember. Y'all clap for that.
Y'all don't know already. You all don't know already I love this man. Thank you all so much. Council President, thank you. I want to thank the administration for honing on important things to our communities. The housing plan is incredible. The wellness plan is credible. We also have done some significant work in public safety. When you put a lot of sense of time into something, things start to move. So I want to applaud you on that. I want to bring forth attention to something that has been very important to me since I was 8 years old. And that is civic 9 engagement. There's an office that 10 I've been with ever since I was a 11 part -- a young person, in civic 12 engagement that I've been looking at 13 for so many years. And I always 14 questioned how are they moving a 15 needle in civic engagement in the 16 city. And that is the Office of Civic Public Engagement, civic engagement, which is now known as the Neighborhood and Community Engagement Office. I am proud of the leadership that's been taken to put together the town -- the town halls that we do in the community. I'm also proud of the fact that we have these neighborhood action centers, which are doing quite well. But the one part of the -- and this is -- I want to take this as like -- I put this on record for incredible feedback and how we could work together to make this happen, the one part of that office that has still yet not moved the needle is the commissions and terms of the commissions over the years, even though I -- as I've seen this since a teenager, people have showed up to events, they've hosted discussions, and they've also just done, you know, publicity things, right? But actually, having significant programs that can change lives and have impact and move some of the Mayor's initiatives, you know, across the table, we haven't really seen that. So, Mike, the only two commissions that have really been impactful this year with programs is Abu Edwards, the Director of Black Male Engagement, where he's literally organized a program that you could see impact. The Office of Women Engagement has programs and so forth. Thus far, when we talk about, this is a -- this is in the -- I want the public to hear this. In the highlights of what these commissions have done, the Office of Black Male Engagement created a program for middle school students to help them become leaders in their schools and communities. Abu Edwards is doing an amazing job. Office of Women Engagement, they're launching an app that will help women get real time support and so forth around crises. The youth engagement, they're working on something around safe quarters with discussions with the -- with the school district. Latino engagement, Muslim affairs, discussions around tables. Yet again, it's always discussions around tables, what -- with no 6 particular impactful programs. However, what bothers me about this budget is that we're asking for about close to a million- dollar increase in their -- in their budget, while an impactful program such as the Mural Arts Program, which has been around for 40 years, colleagues 40 or so plus years, decades, they're being slashed significantly close to a million or so dollars, and then in the next couple years, they're going to be slashed 2 million or so dollars. So -- and coming from the nonprofit world, you don't reward people who have not shown impact. You reward people who have been impactful. So I'm going to give my questions really quickly, and I'm hoping that the commissions this year actually do a better job. So the question I have is, the budget outlines a plan for 300 community meetings and events to be hosted. I know, personally, that 120 of those meetings are going to be local meetings in the town halls, the Community Action centers, what are the other meetings are going to be about, and how do you plan to work with Councilmembers to engage in those -- in that space?
Also, I'm also concerned about the next question is: What data or key performance indicators are being used to evaluate whether or not the neighborhood and communication office strategies are making a tangible difference in residents' lives beyond the towns that -- beyond the centers? I want to learn more about the commissions. And then also what are the commissions specifically going to be doing to make sure that they're engaging the diverse populations around the city to actually have impactful and thoughtful things because, you know, we -- I love the geographic if, and then, and also the rigorous plan, but I just have not seen, even from this report, a rigorous plan for what the commission is going to look like, and I'm looking forward to hearing from you all about that. Thank you.
So my colleague, Chief Deputy Mayor Sincere Harris will answer that question in full. But let me just start by saying we don't see funding our budget as a reward. So last year, each of those commissions, many of them are new received class 100 funding, but they did not have class 200, 300, and 400 funding to actually do their jobs. So on one hand, you're saying there's no 3 impact, but on the other hand, you're saying, why are we rewarding them? They need money in order to operate, in order to deliver those services. But we by no means see class 200, 300, and 400 as rewards to our leaders. Secondly, in our five year plan, we have constraints. We are constrained to word counts. And our budget director, Sabrina Maynard and her team under Ami Patel, they make sure that we adhere to those word counts. What that means is oftentimes we -- we can't, in its totality, talk about all of the great work that's happening, detail by detail. Each of those commissions and neighborhood engagement teams that you mentioned, they have reports on our website showing the impact that they made with only enough money in their budget just to cover their salaries and benefits. And so our -- my colleague, Chief Deputy Mayor, will go over those statistics because as you all know, we do measure our impact. So she will share that. But I just wanted to clarify for the record, the Parker Administration, we don't see the budget as a reward, it's how we deliver services.
Thank you. Tiffany took the first point, and we never want to pit any of our offices against each other. They all do very valuable work. I'm going to call up the Engagement Director, Hassan Freeman. And while he's making his way to this to this stage -- to the stage, I just want to correct the record on some things and give an overview and some clarifying. So to your point about the budget edition for the portion that is considered constituency engagement, that's your Black Male Engagement, that's your youth engagement, the women's engagement who handle many of the commission work that you're referring to, when the increase is not a million dollars, it's about 200 and some thousand dollars. If you see last year's budget, they're working off a shoestring budget. And we pretty much held them flat from FY '24 to FY '25. And that's why we needed, to your point, to kick these programs into high gear, to invest in all of those programs, which -- what does that investment look like? You talked about Black Male Engagement, Abu launching the Ben series. What we didn't talk about is Latino engagements pushing through PHLTCB and providing economic opportunities for folks in that community who otherwise don't have the resources and the opportunities to enter the workforce. The Muslim engagement has done a number of things, and Hassan you should join me, including launching the three-day Muslim Business Expo in partnership with the Commerce Department. Again, focusing on economic opportunity that is deliverable and ways that we can impact the community outside of roundtables and advisory councils and those important public meetings, because yes, those are important. In addition to, you mentioned the Women's Engagement Team launching the app, how we can deliver on safer, cleaner, greener, all of them, including our Interfaith Roundtable, who launch for the first time ever, a series of community kitchens over the holiday, partnering with religious institutions, synagogues, churches, and masjids to provide food and resources to local communities. So these are tangible results that these commissions were doing, these commissions and these engagement offices were doing with minimal resources, which is why in FY '26, we are proposing that their budget increases. Now, that is separate from the initiative of -- the initiative of the Neighborhood and Community Action Team, or NCATs, as we kind of commonly started to call them. And those are the 10 district focused community teams where we were very responsible in making sure we conserved as many resources as possible, maximizing our use of parks, and recs, and libraries, and one school, and one outside partnership with a faith-based institution. And we've set up an organizing team so that we can actually deliver on Mayor Parker's commitment to a government that Philadelphians can see, touch, and feel. They address community issues right there on the spot. Potholes, we had a tenant who -- a resident who was overrun, Councilmember Gauthier, in your district with raccoons, so much to the point where they had to board up the whole house. And those are valuable problem solving engagements that residents are getting their issues handled. We don't wait for them to come to us. We canvas the neighborhood, we engage local businesses. These teams get out and get to know their local police captain, their local fire chief, all of the Parks & Recs in their district. They are responsible for being sort of the mini City Hall and working with our local and state and federal partners to make sure that Philadelphians know we're all in this together. When we talk about a government, you can see, touch, and feel. So, I don't know if I did you justice, Hassan, if you want to add any additional detail or Councilmember, if you have any clarifying questions.
Yeah, just one part. I do think the head of Office of Community Neighborhood Engagement hails from South Philadelphia. And when --
Yeah. When our current -- when our current commissioner and I and Mr. Freeman we were in the trenches in early 2000s, when the homicide rate was skyrocketing in South Philadelphia, and you had gangs from Tasker, and gangs from 27th Street and Wilson Park killing each other day in and day out. And we spent like many, many, many evenings trying to stop them gun wars in South Philadelphia. And so to Mr. Freeman, for your hard work, your dedication. And most importantly, with the neighborhood, many, many city halls working in partnership with District Councilmembers to make sure we're working collaboratively around community engagement and addressing the issues and concerns of the people in our own individual districts. So the floor is yours, sir.
I appreciate that, Councilman. My name is Hassan Freeman and the Director of the Mayor's office of Neighborhood and Community Engagement. As you can see, I'm not used to this. But I'd like to answer your question. Chief Deputy Mayor Harris actually talked about some of the work that we do, but we go a little bit further. We actually just partnered with your office in addressing the sinking homes up on Johnson and Mansfield, if I believe. So we are out there doing the work. In addition to the great work that our women's engagement and doing our black male engagement, our Latino engagement is actually having those round tables to discuss empowering a community that has been historically marginalized and underserved. So it takes time to put them back in their place. In addition to that, our faith-based and interfaith affairs community just had approximately 200 faith-based people from all walks of life come together and collaborate on doing things like feeding the homeless, like reducing gun violence, like counseling. So they are actually doing the work as well. In addition to that, our Muslim engagement goes beyond, and I think our Chief Deputy Mayor talked about it. He's also, not only was he feeding the homeless, he also made it recognized in schools to recognize Ramadan. He's working to do things to empower people, again, being historically marginalized and underserved in our community. So the work is getting done. Sometimes when you deal with relational organizing, it's just that relationships, you got to build it, you got to rebuild the trust. So it takes time for us to always make it manifest. It can't happen as quickly as we really want it, sometimes it takes time.
Thank you. I just want to quickly just say, thanks for the clarification. I do want to add, again, just for the record, again, I am congratulating you all for the neighborhood towns -- oh, gosh, I want to say town centers, but it's --
-- Community Action Centers. But I just look -- I just think of someone like Abu. I mean, he didn't have much money and found a way to create a program. You know, I'm assuming that things are going to be on the upper end this year, especially with more funding, but I still didn't get the answer to, well, we'll talk about when Mural Arts comes up. But I am curious to why such a significant program with an annual report of success is getting completely, you know, I mean, like, they're losing a million, I think close to that. Yes, it's a significant amount of money. Significant amount of money. And I'm actually looking to see how we can expand the money -- expand that, because it's really important to the see, touch, and feel that we talk about. So --
And thank you. And that's why we are calling for the increased budget to help the tutoring program, the mentoring program that Ben is doing to increase that Ramadan -- ready for Ramadan Toolkit that we provided with the school district in partnership with the school district, and to do some of the other work in terms of faith-based outreach with our prisons and partnership with the clergy program.
Good afternoon, Vanessa Garrett Harley, Chief Deputy Mayor for city of Philadelphia. I just want to address your question, Councilman Phillips, around Mural Arts on why it appears that there is a cut in the funding in Mural Arts is receiving this year. Essentially, there is no 15 real cut to the funding that they were receiving. The proposed budget for Mural Arts for this year is approximately $3.7, 3.8 million. And what you're looking at is that last year it looked as if it was $4.2 million in FY '25, but that was because of a one-time fund infusion. That is the difference of approximately $500,000 or so. But the difference in those numbers, and that was one time funds that they received for 2026 beautification of the gateways into FY '25. So essentially, they're remaining flat funded other than that pop that was given in FY '25 so that they could begin the work for the FY '26.
And I'm sorry, I would be remissive if not putting on the record. In addition to all of the programs that we outlined previously, the Interfaith and Muslim Affairs Offices, both do respond a lot of times on every hour of the day whenever there is a -- they're part of our rapid action team, so any event of gun violence, whether a police officer is shot, or whether someone in the community is shot, they stop what they're doing and show up to help that community and that family as much as possible through their grieving time as well.
So they're out in the community, they're doing things and we're -- we look forward to approving the budget where we can add to the resources that they bring to the table.
All right. Let's hopefully get some of that more work publicized in a, I don't know, decent way. We'll figure it out. Thank you, Council President.
Thank you very much. The Chair recognizes Councilmember, Jim Harrity.
Thank you, Council President. Thank you everyone for coming. My man, Hassan, what's happening? I have to say, actually, I've been having dealings with the Office of Muslim Engagement. Imam is everywhere. I mean, me and Sharif have been giving out 300 meals a day since Ramadan started, and he's been at almost every event, especially on Saturdays and Sundays when we're doing it. So I just want to give them a shout out. And, Hassan, of course, is doing good work. I'm going to ask my questions. They're kind of technical and I will let you get back to me on those, but I just want to ask them to get them on the record, okay? And so you'll know where I'm going. First, is we're short 5,700, which is down to 17 percent in the jobs employment are hiring. Was your number down to 17 percent, 2 percent down? But what confuses me is we have 60,000 applicants. It was said in 2024. That's 12 times the amount of vacancies we have. Why aren't we hiring? Which brings me to my next question, and again, you can give me this later if you want to answer. What is the time between application to interview to hire? I've asked for this before in the last budget, I just want to see if it's changed any. All right. And then that's my questions for that. And now my other question is: What is currently the total debt that we are carrying for rebuild? And also I would like to see the numbers for the initial bid and the overrun. So I want to see what the bid was initially to complete the project, and what the actual final cost of the project was, okay?
So for the -- your last question around the initial bid to final cost, that's for all rebuild projects, you'd like to see that?
Well, how about all for that we've done in 2023, and that we plan on doing 2000 -- Well, let's say 2000, when did rebuild start?
How about we go from 20, I'll throw a number 2022?
-- calendar year, whatever you want to tell them. All I'm looking for is the number of what the initial bid was and what we ended up paying at the end of that initial. I'm in construction, so I know about overrides --
-- and stuff like that. That's all I'm trying to get is actual numbers.
Yes. We can submit that to you. So for each year -- each fiscal year, starting in FY22, what the initial bid was and final bid?
We can definitely submit that to you in writing through the Council President's Office.
And then the total cost that we're carrying now from inception of Rebuild.
What is our total debt that we are carrying right now from inception of Rebuild? All right. And then you got the ones about the employment stuff. I just need to know, I want to feel how long it takes. I've sent a lot of people, is what I'm saying. I -- like, I get a lot of people and I give them the website and I'm getting texts every day. Oh, dude, I'm 500 and something on the list as of January, can you find -- and I don't even know how to actually find out for them where they're at on their list. So just trying to get a hold of that because, you know, with 60,000 applicants, I think we should be able to find 5,700 employees. So that's it. And you can get back to me with that, I don't want to waste time on numbers.
Well, Councilmember, I certainly don't see it as a waste of time. And if you'd like, I can call up Candi Jones now --
Thank you, Member Harrity. Okay. Sorry. Ms. Jones?
Okay. Thank you. Candi Jones, Chief Human Resources Officer. So there's a lot to unpack there. So I'm going to start with just new hires in general. So we are hiring. The 60,000 in applications really speaks to our level of engagement, which we've significantly increased.
So we're -- thank you. So we are -- so we -- so our new hires have gone from about 2,400 to about 3,300. So I will provide -- thank you. So we'll provide our new hire information year-over-year, so you can see visually kind of that our trajectory upward. What's going to be really important and what I would also like to provide is our separations information. So as we're seeing that we're hiring new candidates, we're hiring over 3000 people, we're losing 3000 a year as well.
Right. So it's important, so we're looking at our tremendous recruitment efforts, we're looking at new hires, but we are bleeding out, right? And so we're losing people to voluntary resignation, drop retirements.
So we're trying to compete with the number of people that are --
Exactly. And so we have some really, I think helpful visuals of that, just seeing that our recruitment efforts are not for naught. We are getting there, but we also have to kind of -- where we can kind of address our separations.
Yeah. Because I mean, 3000 hires at that -- that's great stuff.
I mean, especially since you guys are really a new administration.
I just need the -- I want the time frames between ads and I know some of it's civil service, so that's a little different too, right? That takes a little longer?
Correct. So it's a -- and I have a great visual I can share with you after this.
And so for our visual, what we look at, there's four pieces in the process.
There is the part that OHR owns, which is the initial part where we're putting up our applications to when we're developing that eligible list. There's a part after that where once that eligible list is established, the departments are reaching out to us to request a certification. There's a very small period of time where we're providing those names from the eligible list, and then from that interview to first hire. So we break down the process into four parts and we have some really lovely visuals that I can share --
-- that shows the full comprehensive time to hire, and then it really gives you an opportunity to see who owns the process at which time and the time that that owner is taking for the process. And we have that also broken down by department.
Exactly. And so we're looking at those hang ups to be very specific and intentional in how we're going to address those hang ups. I'll also provide it by department, because I think it's important to also recognize that for some positions, some roles, we have the application period significantly longer to align with improvement --
Exactly. Others are shorter. So we can provide all of that information.
Yeah. Just trying to find a disconnect. So that would be great.
I did have another one, but it, kind of, went from my mind. So if I could just get the numbers for the Rebuild when you come back, that would be great. And if I think of my senior moment I just had and the other question I had, I'll get back. Thank you, Council President.
And Council President, we'll make sure that the visual aid that Candi referenced will be submitted to your office. So all members of Council will have access to that. And I would like to call up Rob, if that's okay now, our Director of Finance to answer the Rebuild question around our rebuild debt that we're carrying.
And we're going to double back on this question as well on the second round. And then also, Member Harrity, you'll have the opportunity to address this because on Parks & Rec, they have their own time to also address it as well. Go ahead.
There's $155 million of outstanding Rebuild bonds. We actually are probably planning to do one this summer because --
Since, yeah. Since inception. We're probably doing another borrowing this summer because Rebuild has run through its funds.
Okay. All right. And then you'll get back to me with the bids and --
-- that's technical, it may take a minute. So I appreciate that. Thank you, Council President.
Thank you. The Chair recognizes Member Brooks, then Member O'Rourke.
Good morning colleagues, and thank you everyone from the administration for testifying today. My office appreciates all the work you've done to prepare this year's proposed budget. I look forward to hearing more about the administration's priorities and being in conversation with my colleagues to ensure that we put forth the best possible budget for Philadelphia. Before I move into the questions I have regarding the five-year plan, I want to start by stating some of the things I'm thinking about as we enter the budget season this year. We are starting this budget process with every finance expert saying or citing uncertainty regarding the federal budget. And we have seen the Trump presidency emboldened by the work of the billionaire Elon Musk to quickly target and dismantle federal agencies, federal jobs, and in certain case individuals who disagree with them. Therefore, my north star in this budget cycle is to protect Philadelphians, their rights, their finances, and their livelihood. That means to make sure that city agencies like the Department of Labor and the Office of Immigrant Affairs are fully funded and preparing for any challenges that we might have to fight right here in Philadelphia. That means prioritizing city services and investments that would put cash directly into the pockets of our city's poorest and ensuring we remain fiscally sound, footing up to 2.8 billion in federal grants could be at risk this year. That means making sure the investments we are making prioritize our small businesses, working class families, and insuring corporations and the wealthy are paying their fair share in the face of this growing oligarchy. With that being said, I want to start with my question, which focuses on why the administration is asking Council to codify years of tax cuts into 6 law. When I think back to the last 7 17 years, we saw a great recession, 8 a COVID pandemic, supply chain 9 issues that led to historic 10 inflation, and now a federal 11 headwinds and another possible 12 recession caused by this Trump 13 administration. Is this the 14 fiscally responsible thing to do 15 now? 16
Yeah. So the 17 reason that we're proposing the tax investments and proposing to put them in legislation is because we need jobs. And as the commerce director said when she came up here that is a really -- a really positive sign to our businesses to hire people and putting their legislation in until we get to the point where the gross receipt tax is gone, and then net income cash is cut in half, shows businesses that we're committed to them and should help us draw businesses and draw jobs. So it's really about job creation.
So by speeding up the tax cuts after the pension funds is made whole, the administration is also effectively trying to -- or tying the hands of future mayors and City Council. Why should the city prioritize BIRT cuts over a historic opportunity to invest in city services and programs?
Yeah. And I mean, if you look at the budget and plan we're proposing, there are significant investments in a number of areas, right? So the biggest investment that we're making is the $800 million commitment to housing. But we're also committing to our workforce with $500 million in a labor reserve. We're committing to wellness with the hundreds of millions of dollars of funding there. So it's not a budget and plan that is really about -- just about tax cut investments. It's about a whole range of investments.
So why should this Council be tying the hands of future administrations and other City Councilmembers moving forward?
So what we want to do is -- and one of the things we've heard consistently from businesses is they want predictability. And so the idea of showing those cuts through 2039 is to give that predictability to businesses, that's the rationale.
So businesses dictating that Council should be tied up for years? 3
Businesses 4 aren't dictating anything. It's our 5 attempt to show them a commitment 6 and our attempt to make them feel 7 confident about doing business here 8 and adding new jobs. 9
10 Okay. The administration 11 proposed setting aside $95 million 12 in emergency reserves, which is less 13 than one week of the total operating 14 cost of the city. Can someone from 15 the administration detail on how 16 they settled on $95 million and what 17 calculations went into it?
Yeah, and I'll acknowledge there wasn't a lot of science. We wanted to put a number to give us a little bit of runway for if things started to go bad. We are not going to be able to put in a number that makes up for all of the federal money we get, but we wanted to give ourselves a little room for if things were to start to get really bad.
So what examples do you have on how the city could use this $95 million?
Well, for example, if a grant were cancelled and we thought that it was a service that we really needed to provide, some of that funding could go to make up for the loss of that grant.
So has the city run projections on revenue loss from unemployment impacting the federal workers and the Eds and Meds sectors in our economy?
Yeah. So our econometric firm that gives us our projections, one of the things they look at is, you know, what's happening with employment. And so they have built some projections around that into the numbers they gave us, which is why we're looking at really flat -- one of the reasons we're looking at relatively flat growth over the next five years.
And my last question is, has the administration asked departments to prepare for cuts either due to federal funding or due to a recession?
We went through a process earlier last year where we asked departments to give us cut scenarios so that we could be prepared for, you know, if things went wrong, and that's a process that we typically go through every year.
Thank you. Councilmember O'Rourke and Councilmember Ahmad, I mean, Dr. Nina Ahmad, then Councilman Rue Landau, and then we will take a break. But just for the record, I want to be clear on your statement. Prior to the administration and put a pause in BIRT and wage tax investments, right? The -- prior to this, but previous years rather on the last administration before them. Every year there was a wage reduction investment as well as a BIRT reduction in investment has services and spending increase or decrease?
Yeah. So to your point, really since the mid '90s, there have been reductions in the wage tax and/or the burden in almost every year and we have seen consistent increases in our revenues.
As relates to services not decreased, correct?
Okay. I just want to kind of frame that just for the record. Councilmember Nick O'Rourke.
Thank you, Mr. President. That's an interesting point. Some might find it tacky or taboo to say, but I have to say how much I appreciate and find springtime refreshing. In these times, the fact that the lions share of this leadership team are powerful black women. I want to hat tip y'all. I take great pride in seeing you up here, also in our Council as well, our majority leader, our minority leader. Your leadership is glowing and I -- and I appreciate just saying it. Just wanted to state that for the record. Thank you to Mayor Parker for her leadership, as well as your team for being here today. And I especially want to acknowledge the team for taking the time to meet with me and understand our office's priorities. These are -- these budget decisions carry real weight, as we say all the time, budgets are moral documents, where your treasurer is, your heart will be also, they reflect our values and determine who we choose to protect and uplift in this moment of uncertainty that we have spoken at length about today. And with that, I want to dive into questions about the uncertainty and frankly, the fear that many Philadelphians feel right now. And they say as much, nearly every day, I hear the same concern, some variation of this question with everything happening at the Federal level, what is the city doing to protect us? Something like that. We know that Philadelphia relies heavily on federal funding, yet major cuts are looming. So I do have questions about what's at stake? In 2024, the city received $2.8 billion in federal grants. For the record, Chief Thurman, what percentage of our annual budget does that represent?
So it's -- it's a slightly complicated question because not all of that is in our general fund, a lot of it it's in grants funds.
So we went to look at kind of our all-funds budget, which I believe is about $11 billion.
And that should be a major alarm bell for all of us. And I hope those -- the viewing public that actually watches these things, recognizes that. The city also collected a billion dollars in wage taxes from federal workers and employees in the Meds and Eds sectors, many of whom have already faced layoffs of -- or financial strains. I think I saw an article in the Inqie or somewhere talking about, you know, Philly basing its fiscal future on Eds and Meds, and that being in question. Does the administration have data on how many jobs have already been lost due to federal layoffs? And how many more are currently at risk, including jobs in our Eds and Meds sector that are heavily reliant on federal dollars?
We don't -- I mean, we have it. And you cited the stats. We have it by dollars collected.
Could you submit it in writing for the record, you know?
I -- let me talk to the folks in revenue, because we don't -- we receive our revenue from employers in a group. Tell me just see what we can get you on in accordance.
I understand. If we don't know how many jobs are already gone or at risk or don't -- aren't really clear about that, how are we supposed to plan for what's coming in a row, since I know that you said there are, you know, you run things, I guess year-after-year to kind of think about a plan B or not a plan B. The mission is the mission Chief Thurman said, but what other tactic you may take. But it really does raise a question about how we -- how we should plan thoroughly across the Council. We can't afford to be caught flatfooted with federal dollars disappearing and layoffs continuing. And we're three months into this administration. I guess that's about 3 percent into the four-year term. That's rough. Can you tell us how many federal grants have already been terminated?
I'm going to actually -- I just want to say one thing about, we're not being caught flatfooted, we know that there are risks and you kind of cited some of the numbers that we've talked about that are at risk and we have done things to prepare. But I will -I'll turn it to -- over to the city solicitor. Talk me through it again.
Thank you. Renee Garcia, City Solicitor. So far one grant has been --
-- officially terminated. I will say that grant is the subject of national litigation and like most of the lawsuits that we have seen nationally and has resulted pretty quickly in an injunction.
It's a government-to-government grant through the EPA. There have been many other grants that are off and on. Sometimes at 8:00 a.m., we can't draw down funds, but at 8:00 p.m. we can. So it is something that we are working on every single day. And it -- this job -- this administration is teaching me patience, because truly it is a cycle of they do something, there's a lawsuit, there's an injunction, the money starts flowing. So it is something that we are monitoring truly by the hour.
Okay. Council President, I did hear the bail and I want to be mindful. We do get a round two perhaps? Thank you very much, sir.
Thank you. Thank you for understanding as well. Dr. Nina Ahmad, and then we're going to break at 1:00 -- at 12:30 and we'll be back after break.
All right. Thank you, Council President. I just want to commend the Mayor and her team for being so bold in their vision. I know times are tough, but we have to be growth oriented and we have to look to the future. So I'm really happy to see many of these initiatives that have been rolled out in this budget. I -- of course, the devil is in the details and I have a question about the home initiative that is going to be issuing the $800 million bond. The question was: Is this -- are these going to be general obligation bonds or revenue bonds? Because that will determine also, you know, the interest rates associated in our debt. So I just wanted to get clarification on that.
They will be revenue bonds, but they're supported by all of the city's revenues. So, they generally carry the same rating and trade the same as our GO bonds.
The second question is: Based on that, from what I can tell that $33 million of the $400 million approximately for the debt service is about 8.25 percent. I don't know if that's correct, if you can tell me what that debt service rate is and then also is it prudent to -- because rates are going to fluctuate and hopefully come down, is it prudent to do a too large bunches like this instead of doing maybe different if we can -- I don't know the issues around floating these bounds, but can we do it in smaller trenches so we can appreciate -- get the benefit of lower rates?
Yeah. So two things: we are assuming for the first borrowing the rate is about 5.75 percent, slightly higher for the second borrowing. The reason that we're showing two borrowings of that size so quickly is that we anticipate to be spending this money really quickly and to get it out the door. So we'd agree with you, if the spending was going in such a pattern that we should spread out the borrowings that would make sense, but we anticipate for this program spending will be fast.
And I'm switching to, I know I don't have much time switching to the 2026 preparations, and I see that the city has committed $60 million and off that $28 million to public safety. I have a particular interest in understanding if we are paying attention to human trafficking, particularly sex trafficking that goes up during times when we have a lot of sporting events. And I am looking to see if we can carve out some resources to do prevention awareness and potential training. We are putting together a sort of consortium to talk about that and we are going to be coming to you and I just wanted to see if there was -- if we could be carving out some of that for prevention of sex trafficking.
Absolutely, Councilmember Ahmad. And we're going to have Police Commissioner Bethel talk about in detail, but you saw that a lot of the budget increase, as I mentioned earlier, went to ensure our safety and security. So that's PPD and OEM and other city departments that are on the front lines. COMMISSIONER BETHEL: Yeah. So I think that's an excellent thought process. I don't think it requires additional money, just additional focus. We have a great partnership for our federal partners around human trafficking. So that awareness now, I'll be very honest with you, I was not aware doing these types of event, we see that increase, so you just raised an awareness that we did not have. And so we can -- I'll get back to you as I talk to my colleagues, as we can focus and make that an awareness that we all need to be aware of as we move forward.
Well, thank you. I've already spoken to the district attorney general, district attorney, the airport, we're going to talk to the Hotel and Motel Association because they just got hit with $17 million settlement around this issues. And this is the third one in the last few years. So this is a problem in our city. And so I look to work with you to bring this plan together so we can have a safe -- fun but safe time for all our visitors and Philadelphians during this time. And I really want to make sure that we have a focus on that and we'll talk further about that. COMMISSIONER BETHEL: Thank you.
Thank you, Council President. COMMISSIONER BETHEL: Look forward to working with you.
Thank you very much. We will be in recess until 1:30,`and then we will finish starting with Councilman Quetcy Lozada, Rue Landau, and then we'll finish -- start our second round. Thank you very much. (Recess.)
The Chair recognizes Member Jones to finish his questioning from the first round.
Okay. Well, thank you. I appreciate that prompt nature, Mr. President. So what I want to talk about briefly is as we start to move aggressively into the space of housing, affordable luxury is the quote. What I want to know is how do we assure luxury? How do we assure affordability? And what I really want to know is, are the building standards up to par? That -- I live in a house that is 100 years old. Is it built out of things that possibly will be there another 100 years. I am not convinced that based on the finances and the mortgage that we have taken out, that the actual properties have the lifespan that will not require major repairs in less than 50 years, more like 25. Can somebody assure me that we are building not just for today but for the future. And as climate change happens, that we are taking that into account so that poor people don't wind up not losing houses because of mortgages but you losing houses because of lost utilities. Thank you.
I want to officially ask for Ms. Tiffany Thurman, representing the Administration, to please come on back up officially as we convene and follow-up regarding questions as it pertains to the five-year plan Capital Budget Program, the Mayor's office and the Labor Department. Just officially for the record, the floor back is yours Member Jones. And then the next person who will follow-up and ask questions as it pertains to technically the first round, but we've moved on to Member Jones because members weren't here at the moment. I'm going to next call on Councilwoman Rue Landau. Member Jones?
So thank you Councilmember Jones for that question around affordable luxury, and then weatherization, building standards, and ensuring that the investments that we're making will have long-term impact. So I have here with me now our Director of Planning and Development, Jessie Lawrence, to talk about affordable luxury. And then after Jessie, I would like to call up our Chief Housing and Urban Development Officer Angela Brooks to talk about standards that she's seen in other cities and how we're going to employ that here.
Before you start to answer that question, let me thank you. Because there's a place called Grid Shalom that 300 people are not homeless. That PHA invested 6 million in. The city is investing 7 another 8 million in. So if you 8 don't do nothing else for me, you're 9 good. Now you can answer. 10
13 I did see a flyer with some 14 activists talking about the work of 15 addressing rental housing and 16 affordability. And -- but I wanted 17 to take a nod to Councilmember 18 Curtis Jones, who really did the 19 call for all members of City Council 20 to step up to the plate and play a 21 major role in addressing issue of 22 that Shalom, so just thank you for 23 your hard work and dedication --
-- for addressing housing for our seniors. The floor is yours.
So affordable housing is essentially the ability to not distinguish low income housing or moderately income housing from market rate and upper class or upper -- upscale housing. Excuse me. It's a matter of making sure that we are utilizing finishes that are durable, sustainable, things that will last, things that will not deteriorate over time, things that might cost a little more than usual to install on the front end, but will help you minimize the cost and maintaining on the back end. So it's not just the materials, it's the appliances, things that might be, you know, more than energy -- lead energy star, that type of thing. But the key here is to be very prescriptive about those design standards however we can. We've already started to enter those into things like affordable housing RFPs that have come out of DHCD being very prescriptive about those standards where we have not been before. Again, not just materials, not just appliances, just making sure that we're doing things and, you know, along the lines of just upper floor is for laundry services, not having that type of thing in your basement. Access to outdoor space as a requirement in development. The key here is to make sure that you can -- I think the Mayor has always looked at models. The one that she used to really kind of reference a lot was the East Falls development, where it once was public housing. And one thing the Mayor will always say and I certainly think about my grandmother's public housing. My grandmother's public housing is not your new public housing, right? I think PHA has set a standard themselves in repurposing, you know, towers that have historically been where poverty has been centralized, but it's also added some sort of aesthetic that is not just pleasing to, you know, what meets the eye on the outside, but what residents would consider comfortable living. So we are making sure that we insert these standards into anything that we put out competitively RFP wise. We're setting up our planning and development -- excuse me, our planning commission to be able to speak to those much more explicitly in our urban design unit who do a lot of work right now with being very prescriptive about what gets developed where. So, you know, urban design doesn't just stop on the outside, it does insert itself on the inside too. So we're making sure that we hold these standards up and looking at, you know, when these budgets come in for affordable housing, if they're making sure -- making sure that they incorporate that type of item -- line item and cost as well.
So back 10 years ago, all -- every time we talk about development, we talk about lead certifications and lead platinum. I don't hear that as much because, you know, that has subsided. But I want to make sure that that's built into the expectation because people will become homeless more akin to utility bills than they will to mortgage, that's number one. Number two, how are we looking at in efforts to keep labor peace and average -- because this is a union town. I'm going to say it again, this is a union town, but new ways of development that have a different fabrication process that I hear can cut expenses down by a third. Are we looking into those possibilities?
So I think that we want to be clear about the fact that we don't want to minimize those opportunities on the union side, but, you know, we still want to encourage the ability to think about how we develop more -- much more creatively. I think we are forced to do that at this point with, you know, increasing construction costs, knowing that things -- I mean, it just costs way more to build than it used to. So we don't want to lose that, but we also want to make sure that we are walking that fine line between the compromise of that. The plan itself is looking at ways to be able to provide some sort of pre-development indoor gap financing as well, because we, you know, we have to think about ways to be able to help the developer as well meet their goals. So I think that we are looking at that, we are making sure that that is part of the conversation, we're being creative about new construction and how we can be something that's allowing us to meet our goals as well, but that is something that we are diving into as we speak, making sure when we talk about affordable luxury processes for development as well.
So as the final point on this question is that two things can be true at once. We can have quality, affordable, luxury, but also have black and brown and female inclusion. I know DEI is a bad word at the federal level, but it's -- you're speaking my language here in Philadelphia. How do we navigate that?
So I think for the Black and Brown and folks that look like you and me, when they want to develop, it's about being able to access those opportunities, right? You think about the ones who might not look like us and they have those -- they have, you know, the ability for -- to access capital in ways that those historically disadvantaged people have not been able to. So, you know, we're thinking about things in collaboration with the accelerator fund, which has done well to provide opportunities to minority developer programmers -- program graduates, and folks that develop along those lines. We want to make sure that we're bridging the gap specifically, not just for -- not just for development, but folks that look like ourselves as well.
We will be waiting with bated breath to see the details of that. Thank you, Mr. President.
So and Councilmember as Angela Brooks is coming up, I also just want to pull it in very plain speak. Affordable doesn't mean cheap. Period. Full stop. Affordable does not mean cheap. So we are looking at things like fixtures and finishes with the build. We also want to have it such that -- and Mayor, you know, rolled out this vision that we have, you know, through an "imagine if" scenario that she delivered in her budget speech yesterday, where if you are driving down your -- the street, your street, my street, you know, all across the city, you should not be able to tell the house -- the house that was -- that is -- that is considered affordable luxury to the market rate house. So that's important to us. Now we -- and so we want to make sure though that this vision, right, is implementable. And so that's where Angela and her expertise is really important coming, you know, being the president of the American Planning Association, helping to deliver author, in fact, a national housing -- national housing initiatives and recommendations to other large cities are really important. And so her work, working with labor unions in the city of Chicago, her background with supportive housing is really important as well. And that's why it was critical that we recruit and retain her to join our team. I'd like to call on Angela now to answer the second half of your questions around that union engagement, the building standards to ensure that we're thinking not just about building fast and quick now, but that it -- that we have a sustainability component to it as well.
Awesome. No, thank you for the question. And I think one of the things that's really exciting and what attracted me to this job is the intentional partnership with the building trades and, kind of, thinking about that. And so Jessie kind of outlined some of the priorities and around design review and site design standards that already exist, which is really showing, based off the last four years of my life, kind of, working on the housing supply accelerator playbook, that Philadelphia is already implementing the things we're seeing around the country around ensuring that you can't tell the difference between an affordable unit and a market rate unit. You know, nobody wants a poor door as the -- I'm a recovering affordable housing developer, so I spend a significant amount of time at the Chicago Housing Authority after that article in New York about the Poor Door. So making sure we don't have that, because -- just because you're poor doesn't mean you have to live in a different type of capacity. So what some of the things we're implementing are things we're seeing around the country, but we're also looking at being innovative. So a lot of the things that we're able to bring to the table are things we're going to be piloting, and we're going to be really highlighting and showcasing the great skills of some of the great contractors that we have already here in Philadelphia. And having labor at the table with us means we're really going to get this right and we're going to be implementing their thoughts. We have a working group as a part of the housing -- of the home plan, so the advisory group is made of builders, developers, we have contractors, small and large in the room. We've got non-profit and market rate developers in that room. There's 50 people in the room, so I can assure you we're going to get a wide variety of perspectives as we're looking at implementing the plan. So we're just getting started. Certainly, really excited to hear a lot of your ideas as well, but I can assure you, sustainability -- as a recovering developer, sustainability makes units cheaper on the long run. So when we're looking at our long-term performance, I can assure you there's not any developer who's not looking at incorporating some of these structures because it's going to help them from a property management side long-term down the road. So it's going to be top of the mind for a developer, not just because it's the right thing to do, but the bottom line is a lot easier and it makes it more operational and more efficient affordable down the line, so.
I was encouraged when I talked to you about the Cleveland model of lease to own that you were well aware of it from a Chicago point of view that might be -- might be brought here to Philadelphia taking PHA properties and working it out so that the tenant can own eventually. Because if you look at some of the market rate rents in Philadelphia, those are mortgages.
They're mortgages, absolutely. So Chicago Housing Authority has the Choose to Own program, which they implemented about 10 years ago. So they've helped 10,000 public housing residents -- or not 10,000, 1,000 public housing residents purchase their homes using their vouchers. So it's a really great program that we're starting to see housing authorities implement. And I'm pretty sure the Philadelphia Housing Authority is a model for many. So I'm pretty sure it's something they might already be doing in Week 2 here. I don't know that, but I would imagine it's something -- I mean, housing authorities across the country are following the work of PHA, so I can't imagine it's not something that wouldn't be done if it isn't already.
Thank you. Councilmember Quetcy Lozada, then Councilmember Rue Landau, Councilman Member Phillips, and then Councilmember J. Young, and then we'll officially go into our second round. Councilmember Quetcy Lozada.
Thank you, Council President. First, thank you all for being with us today. You know, as we've done the work to restore and reimagine the Kensington community, some folks have said that the unsheltered or the homeless problem that we have in the city of Philadelphia is a citywide problem and not just a Kensington problem. And sometimes when you're under pressure, you tend to agree with that. I say that we are not the same, right, there is a unsheltered or a homeless problem in the city, but the crisis is in the Kensington Harrowgate community. So we are not the same, and I say that because I want to publicly acknowledge the work that you all have been doing in the Kensington community in response to the crisis that that community has experienced for a really long time. I've had the opportunity to attend Wellness Court multiple times over the course of the last few weeks. And I'm committed to its advancement and am looking forward to the opportunity to expand it. And so my question is that given the nature of -- the pilot nature of the Wellness Court program, is there a specific budget allocation for the program's evaluation to assess its impact on public safety and the recidivism rates?
So, good afternoon, Councilmember Lozada. Wellness Court, as you know, the initial pilot is its one day a week. On Wednesdays however, there is a budget allocation in this budget to bring it to five days a week to actually scale the program up. With regards to the evaluation piece in your specific question, now call up our Public Safety Director, Adam Geer, who can probably give you exact detail around that.
Thank you for the question, Councilmember. We -- we're still about, well, six weeks into our pilot program. So we're not at a point where we have enough information to evaluate it. What I can say is though, we're very encouraged. We're very encouraged by the approach by who we're seeing come in, by some of the outcomes. Again, we will have more to say on that, and by the time we testify on April the 8th, we'll have two more weeks. But the $2.6 million that is in the Mayor's budget, I think will go a long way. We're going to expand to five days a week under that model. And that's in combination with our PAD expansion, which is also in the Mayor's proposal, which will bring PAD -- actually, at the end of this month, we'll be operating seven days a week, hours a day at our PAD 10 facility. So I think the 11 combination of that and the efforts 12 of the police department and 13 everything else will continue to see 14 impact and change. 15
I just want to 16 add one thing though, Councilwoman. 17 While the evaluation will take a 18 minute, the official evaluation, 19 because we haven't had sufficient 20 time to bring data, there is a 21 collaborative effort that went into 22 putting the whole Wellness Court 23 together, and there has been a 24 meeting or so, and I'm sure there will continue to be meetings between the Public Safety Office, the Police Department, the First Judicial District, the Defender Association, the DAs, all the partners that are part of Wellness Court, where that way we can address any issues that have come up, and, you know, everybody's a little bit nimble and willing to be flexible and tweak so that we can make it the best model possible. So that intergovernmental collaboration is still taking place.
Thank you. And then as I was listening earlier, I appreciate that in preparation for the upcoming special events in 2026, there's a priority in making sure that communities get -- feel some of that impact that we're hopeful that the city will have. What are we doing to proactively prepare some of our commercial corridor businesses to be ready to receive the influx of people or visitors that will be coming into our city, and are we depending solely on our commercial quarter managers to be able to prepare individuals? Are they getting paid to add that additional level of work that will be necessary to ensure that the experience is a positive one?
That's a great question, Councilwoman. Thank you for that question. As you see in the FY '26 budget, we are proud to actually be launching a commercial corridor. Specifically, to bring that experience to the neighborhoods and communities. And at this moment, I'm going to call up 2026 Director Michael Newman. But that is in partnership. We have two different programs, one through with -- through MDO and PHS, and the other with the Commerce Department. And we'll talk a little bit more in detail about how we're going to pick those commercial quarters and partnership with you all. And the lasting impact we -- it's our goal to lead those communities through these programs.