So moved and properly seconded. All in favor of tabling Resolution 160659? (Aye.)
The ayes have it. Resolution 160659 is tabled. I will now recognize Councilman Oh. Stated Meeting June 16, 2016 6/16/16 - STATED - 2ND READING
Thank you very much, Council President. This resolution is quite benign. It simply is a resolution requesting the City Controller to conduct a performance audit of the Philadelphia Parking Authority, which has not been audited since 2009. Philadelphians read in the paper about the millions of dollars that are collected in our city and then fund projects all over our state. A lot of what we've done today, which is difficult, is the issue of whether pre-K shall be funded by a beverage tax or whether there's money in the budget. I believe there's money in the budget to fund this. But what I don't think we can dispute is that from the streets of Philadelphia, the parking fees that are collected in the hundreds of millions of dollars are not being distributed to the City of Philadelphia or the School District of Philadelphia and that we should audit the Parking Authority. 37 billion; gave the City only $394 million. The question is, what happened to the remaining $980 million? In October of 2013, the Philadelphia Parking Authority came before Council to request an increase in fees and fines, stating that this would provide an additional $2 million per year for the Philadelphia public schools. 5 million. The next year the Philadelphia Parking Authority came before City Council to request a 50 cent per hour increase for parking meters in areas outside of Center City, such as Roxborough, Mayfair, Chestnut Hill, many areas that are challenged by high parking fees. 5 million Stated Meeting June 16, 2016 6/16/16 - STATED - 2ND READING for the public schools. 5 million from the Philadelphia Parking Authority. million. million. There's a question, $1 million in bonuses. Only an audit by the Controller's Office would be able to find out whether this is true or not. On March 23rd, the Philadelphia School District learned from an article in the Notebook that the Philadelphia Parking Authority would reduce payments to the School District in Fiscal Year 2017 by $3 million and, therefore, it's only budgeted $8 million. The Philadelphia School District was not at the table when the Stated Meeting June 16, 2016 6/16/16 - STATED - 2ND READING City met with the Philadelphia Parking Authority to review its financial reports. It only was invited to the table when this Council body through its joint committee held hearings a couple weeks ago. For both the City and the School District, the Philadelphia Parking Authority provides limited funds in comparison to what it collects, and it only gives the City and the schools what is left over after expenses and funding projects all over our state. It's important to know if the Philadelphia Parking Authority is running efficiently, if it's running effectively, and the last -- because, well, we're here on a beverage tax because we don't have a funding source that people are comfortable with. If they don't accept that there's money in the budget, they want more money. The Parking Authority was taken over by the state in 2001, the same year Stated Meeting June 16, 2016 6/16/16 - STATED - 2ND READING our School District was taken over by the state. And so the report of the Controller looked at seven categories, Center City garages, and its summary states, Increases in administrative expenses significantly outpaces increases in operating revenues over the six-year period. Airport parking operations, and it states, Inconsistent approval protocol exists for the issuance of free parking passes to PPA personnel and the Division of Aviation. Salary costs: No consistency in preparing staff plans to demonstrate the need for all personnel currently employed. On-street parking operations: No documented policies and procedures for the determination of payment amounts due to the City and School District of Philadelphia. Profitability: The revenue bond activity significantly diminishes Stated Meeting June 16, 2016 6/16/16 - STATED - 2ND READING PPA's profitability. 4 percent.
Of the total expenses on average, the industry average is only 28 percent. New responsibilities: Management did not prepare revenue and expense projections beyond one year. And, finally, contracted services: Management could not produce a comprehensive list of contracts. And it also stated that they do not have open bidding, which affects many of our minority and female-owned businesses in the City. I would like to say that if you look at the first page, of the handout that I provided, we received two different sets of data from the Parking Authority - total expenses from the financial statement and total expenses provided to City Councilmembers. And you can see that over the five-year period there is a difference of $24 million. So we do not know what that was for. Stated Meeting June 16, 2016 6/16/16 - STATED - 2ND READING Council President, I think that we have raised sales tax, real estate tax, use and occupancy tax, cigarettes, and now we look at soda, real estate transfer tax, all upon the people of Philadelphia, when in fact the people's resources, the streets, the parking lots, are producing hundreds of millions of dollars that should be benefiting the people of this city and our schools, and I think it's incumbent that we continue to look at that source of revenues rather than burdening the people with more and more taxes. Thank you very much. )
Thank you, Councilman. The Chair recognizes Councilwoman Gym.
I will be very brief, Council President. Thank you very much, and thank you to my colleague Councilman Oh, who laid out very clearly Stated Meeting June 16, 2016 6/16/16 - STATED - 2ND READING the concerns that specifically address in my interest the funding for the School District of Philadelphia. The Philadelphia Parking Authority in 2014, as the Councilman laid out, came and testified before this Council that it would promise to increase $7 and a half million to the School District in funds if we then increased on-street parking meter rates and kiosk fees. By that measure, they should be delivering between $18 to $20 million a year to the public schools. Next year they are projected to deliver 8. The difference between $10 to $12 million is a cohort of full counselors throughout our district. It's about books and supplies in our schools. It's about children struggling to even get water access. We are going to hit a fiscal cliff in FY19 with the School District of Philadelphia, and to me, it is important that we have exhausted all other options Stated Meeting June 16, 2016 6/16/16 - STATED - 2ND READING before we go back to our residents any further for additional taxes that we may have to come before them for. And at the end of the day, this resolution was fundamentally about an audit. I really look forward to working and hope I can work very closely with my colleagues on City Council during this summer to talk about what that can look like in a better way and that as we revisit this in the fall, that we'll have come to a better place about what we want to do, because I think it's important that we are all in agreement about what we're looking for. But, again, at the end of the day, this is about an audit, and if an agency is actively seeking not to have an audit, I think that is darn well a reason why they should be audited. Thank you very much. (Applause.)
Thank you. Mr. Decker, please read the Stated Meeting June 16, 2016 6/16/16 - STATED - 2ND READING title of 160517-A.
An ordinance amending Chapter 10-600 of The Philadelphia Code, entitled "Public Places - Prohibited Conduct," by adding a new Section 10-615, entitled "Disorderly Conduct and Related Offenses," to prohibit certain types of disorderly public conduct and to provide for penalties.
This bill has been heard on two separate days. The question is shall the bill pass finally. Mr. Decker, call the roll.
Councilman Green. Stated Meeting June 16, 2016 6/16/16 - STATED - 2ND READING
Aye. Stated Meeting June 16, 2016 6/16/16 - STATED - 2ND READING
Aye. The ayes are 17; the nays are zero. A majority of members present voting in the affirmative, the bill passes. Mr. Decker, 160138-A.
An ordinance amending various provisions of The Philadelphia Code, including in Title 4 ("The Philadelphia Building Construction and Occupancy Code"), Title 9 ("Regulation of Businesses, Trades and Professions") and Title 14 ("Zoning and Stated Meeting June 16, 2016 6/16/16 - STATED - 2ND READING Planning"), to preclude issuance of certain licenses and permits to any applicant who is delinquent in payments owed to the City.
This bill has been heard on two separate days. The question is -- hold on. The Chair recognizes Councilwoman Bass.
Thank you, Mr. President. I'd like to be heard before the vote is taken.
And I just wanted to say while I certainly applaud my colleague Councilman Domb and the spirit in which this bill was developed, I have deep concerns about the impact it will have on our citizens, particularly those who are low income, those who are Stated Meeting June 16, 2016 6/16/16 - STATED - 2ND READING minority, those who may be less savvy in dealing with the City of Philadelphia. And I did notice that during our public comment session, there was a speaker who came forward from Rittenhouse Square who would not likely fall into any of those categories. The bill's intentions I support 1,000 percent. No license or permit should be issued if someone is delinquent in payment of any taxes, charges, et cetera, through the City of Philadelphia, but the problem that we have is that there seems to be numerous problematic issues with the Department of Revenue, a lack of structure under how agreements are made, under what circumstances for payment arrangements and et cetera. They seem to be very arbitrary in terms of what is allowable and what is not, and I speak from experience as a member of Council, as a District Councilperson and dealing directly with my constituents who have worked with the City's Revenue Stated Meeting June 16, 2016 6/16/16 - STATED - 2ND READING Department. We attempted in our last Finance or one of our last Finance Committee hearings to address the issue. I want to thank the Commissioner, Commissioner Breslin, for his cooperation, but it's clear that we really do have a long way to go. And one of the things that we did suggest was the implementation of a Tax Revenue Collection Task Force that would include folks from the City of Philadelphia and outside, from private institutions, that they could actually weigh in on the way the City collects revenue. We clearly have a situation and a problem here in what we do and how we do it. I just wanted to give a couple of examples as to why I'm not able to support this bill today, and one is that I have a constituent who actually came to my front door last summer, and he should have, because he paid his real estate tax bill, which had been delinquent, through Stated Meeting June 16, 2016 6/16/16 - STATED - 2ND READING the City of Philadelphia. He went to the wrong window to stop a Sheriff Sale that was pending. He owed a balance, let's say, of $10,000. He paid what was requested, which was maybe $5,000, and his property was sold anyway. When we contacted Revenue to find out why it was sold and the circumstances, we were told that he went to the wrong payment window. No one should ever have to go to the right window or do this or do that. If they have the resources to make the payment to the City of Philadelphia and we accept that payment, then there should be a system in place so that they do not have to go back and then re-track the sale, get their property back from the City of Philadelphia, and these sorts of things are completely outrageous and unacceptable, and I think that we would all agree to that. We have many other examples that I could go into, including some that I just referred to Commissioner Breslin, Stated Meeting June 16, 2016 6/16/16 - STATED - 2ND READING but I just wanted to ask Councilman Domb to consider holding this bill, as I've asked the Revenue Commissioner and Mayor Kenney's Administration to work to develop a Revenue Collection Task Force with input, again, from public and private sectors to fix what is wrong, and we certainly hope that that will be considered, because we can't ask our citizens to get themselves straight if the City of Philadelphia isn't straight itself. Thank you very much.
Thank you, Councilwoman. The Chair recognizes Councilman Domb.
Thank you, Council President. I understand the concerns. I just wanted to mention that the BIA, Building Industry Association, with the amendment that we put in place supports this bill, number one. I have a few comments just Stated Meeting June 16, 2016 6/16/16 - STATED - 2ND READING to -- just maybe one or two paragraphs of my comments here. It just says this bill will require that no building permit or license be issued or renewed if an applicant is delinquent in the payment of any City or School District dollars unless an applicant has entered into a payment agreement. As a government, we must continue to take the necessary steps to tackle the outstanding issues involving delinquencies, and while we've made slight improvement in our collection rates, we still have more work to do, and I want to make sure we equip our government with the means necessary to catch those who aren't paying while the rest of us do pay. We owe it to the taxpayers of this city who play by the rules to clean up our books. We have over $700 million of delinquent taxes right now on the City's books right now. We owe it to the children of the City who have the right to a quality education supported by Stated Meeting June 16, 2016 6/16/16 - STATED - 2ND READING sufficient resources and we owe it to ourselves, the City government. Because if we prove we can be a fiscally responsible enterprise, more companies will want to do business with us. Collecting delinquent taxes is one of my priorities as a new member of this distinguished body, and this bill is a step in the right direction. I want to thank the Building Industry Association of Philadelphia and the Kenney Administration for working with me and my office on this legislation. We'll continue to work together to address inefficiencies and improve our efforts to address this very important issue. Thank you, Council President.
Thank you, Councilman. The Chair recognizes Councilman Taubenberger.
Thank you, Mr. President. I know the City has Stated Meeting June 16, 2016 6/16/16 - STATED - 2ND READING problems collecting and also keeping records sometimes, but I truly believe that the amendments that were put forth are more than adequate, and I will be voting aye on this bill. Thank you so much.
Thank you, Councilman. The Chair recognizes Councilwoman Bass.
Thank you, Mr. President. I just wanted to mention that I just want to be clear that collecting delinquent taxes is my priority as well, but I just want to be certain that we're not shutting people out, particularly minority contractors, who have been shut out of opportunities in the City of Philadelphia on numerous fronts and that this is another way to shut them out because they are unable to work with the City's Revenue Department to get an acceptable plan in place to be able to make payments. We want folks to Stated Meeting June 16, 2016 6/16/16 - STATED - 2ND READING be able to pay their taxes. We certainly want to collect that revenue, but there has to be a system in place to be able to do it. We should have already had it in place, and now is the time to do it. We cannot wait any longer. I certainly do understand Councilman Domb wanting to move forward with this bill, but I do think that there is more work to be done before we shut out folks who may be less savvy in terms of dealing with the City of Philadelphia.
Thank you, Councilwoman. The Chair recognizes Councilwoman Blackwell.
Thank you, Mr. President. I had told Councilman Domb that I would support his bill, but given the fact that Councilwoman Bass is not saying we shouldn't do it, but only asking for a delay so that we may make sure that we're being fair to all people, that sounds Stated Meeting June 16, 2016 6/16/16 - STATED - 2ND READING fair to me. And so, Councilman Domb, I apologize, but I will be supporting Councilwoman Bass in her views. Thank you.
Thank you, Councilwoman. The Chair recognizes Councilman Jones.
Thank you, Mr. President. In this body we have always talked about getting what is due the City. We have fought for it when we talked about it years ago, when we talked about out-of-town realtors that came into Philadelphia, paid their home taxes and don't pay Philadelphia taxes. But I have to stand with Councilwoman Bass today. We passed a law that protected senior citizens because they couldn't tell when they went to the Revenue Department whether they were paying the principal, the interest, the penalty, and they told us that they would fix it so that they understood when they applied a Stated Meeting June 16, 2016 6/16/16 - STATED - 2ND READING dollar where that went. Two years later after passing that law, we don't have that law enforced. So until they fix that, I can't be in support of this. So I stand with Councilwoman Bass.
Thank you, Councilman. Mr. Decker, read the title one more time.
Bill No. 160138, an ordinance amending various provisions of The Philadelphia Code, including in Title 4 ("The Philadelphia Building Construction and Occupancy Code"), Title 9 ("Regulation of Businesses, Trades and Professions") and Title 14 ("Zoning and Planning"), to preclude issuance of certain licenses and permits to any applicant who is delinquent in payments owed to the City.
This bill has been heard on two separate days. The question is shall the bill pass finally. Stated Meeting June 16, 2016 6/16/16 - STATED - 2ND READING Mr. Decker, call the roll.
Councilman Stated Meeting June 16, 2016 6/16/16 - STATED - 2ND READING O'Neill.
Aye. The ayes are 14; the nays are three. A majority of members present Stated Meeting June 16, 2016 6/16/16 - STATED - 2ND READING voting in the affirmative, the bill passes. I think the one that most people have been waiting for, so people can go and get some lunch. Mr. Decker, please read the title of 160176.
An ordinance amending Title 19 of The Philadelphia Code, entitled "Finance, Taxes and Collections," by adding a new Chapter 19-4100, entitled "Sugar-Sweetened Beverage Tax."
Thank you. This bill has been heard on two separate days. The question is shall the bill pass finally. Mr. Decker, call the roll.
Aye. Stated Meeting June 16, 2016 6/16/16 - STATED - 2ND READING
Aye. Stated Meeting June 16, 2016 6/16/16 - STATED - 2ND READING
Aye. The ayes are 13; the nays are four. A majority of members voting in the affirmative, the bill passes. (Applause.)
An ordinance amending Section 19-1806 of The Stated Meeting June 16, 2016 6/16/16 - STATED - 2ND READING Philadelphia Code, entitled "Authorization" --
Excuse me. Folks, as you're leaving, could you please hold down the conversation and walk as quietly as possible. Thank you. Mr. Decker, I'm sorry.
Bill No. 160173, an ordinance amending Section 19-1806 of The Philadelphia Code, entitled "Authorization of Realty Use and Occupancy Tax," to further authorize the Board of Education of the School District of Philadelphia to impose a tax on the use or occupancy of real estate within the School District of Philadelphia.
Thank you. This bill has been heard on two separate days. The question is shall the bill pass finally. Mr. Decker, call the roll.
Councilwoman Stated Meeting June 16, 2016 6/16/16 - STATED - 2ND READING Bass.
Councilman O'Neill. Stated Meeting June 16, 2016 6/16/16 - STATED - 2ND READING
Aye. The ayes are 17; the nays are zero. A majority of members voting in the affirmative, the bill passes. Stated Meeting June 16, 2016 6/16/16 - STATED - 2ND READING Mr. Decker, 160174.
An ordinance amending Section 19-1801 of The Philadelphia Code, entitled "Authorization of Tax," to further authorize the Board of Education of the School District of Philadelphia to impose a tax on real estate within the City of Philadelphia.
This bill has been heard on two separate days. The question is shall the bill pass finally. Mr. Decker, call the roll.
Aye. Stated Meeting June 16, 2016 6/16/16 - STATED - 2ND READING