Rendell unveils city's budget plan

With pride over the deficit-free past year and with enthusiasm for the future, Philadelphia Mayor Ed Rendell announced his Fiscal Year 1995 Budget Plan to City Council members and an audience of Philadelphians last week. "Our record shows that we are giving the citizens of Philadelphia better value for their tax dollars than ever before," he said. After recounting the administration's accomplishment of having the city's first balanced budget since 1987, Rendell introduced a $2.3 billion General Fund budget plan for the fiscal year of 1995. The proposed budget will be the third consecutive budget to be free of layoffs and increases in taxes. The budget "holds all departments harmless at this year's estimated spending levels, while actually increasing funding in certain key areas," he said. Absent from this year's budget address were the catcalls and heckling coming from irate audience members last year. "Today, all of us can share in the achievement of our recovery and each and every Philadelphian can take tremendous pride in the rebirth of our great city," said Rendell, who entered and exited the City Council Chambers, where he gave the budget address, to thunderous applause. Rendell also submitted a five-year financial plan for fiscal years 1995 through 1999 to the Council, which he said emphasized investing for the future. "Whereas our number one priority two years ago was averting bankruptcy, our foremost priority now is to build for the future," he said. "Financially, we have moved from crisis to control." He explained that to combat a potential deficit which could be caused by expenditures such as the $18 million cost of health and medical care for city employees, a number of "big-ticket" productivity reforms will have to be made. Rendell also said he included an "unprecedented" $2.2 billion Economic Stimulus Program in his five-year budget plan to "jump start" the city's economy. The Economic Stimulus plan is intended to turn Philadelphia into the "number one tourist and convention city on the East coast," he added. Revitalizing the city's neighborhoods into "centers of economic activity" and attracting new businesses are discussed in the Economic Stimulus plan as well. Rendell also introduced the Capital Program, which calls for over $131 million in neighborhood improvements. Rendell noted that Philadelphia – the safest of the country's major urban cities, according to a recent Federal Bureau of Investigation report – has become even safer. Major crime decreased 10.8 percent in the last year. To further increase Philadelphians' safety, a four-year, $25 million program initiated in 1991 will continue to improve street lighting, Rendell said. So far, nearly 7,000 lights have been replaced in West Philadelphia, he added. "Those of us who call Philadelphia home know what can be accomplished through hard work," he said. "The rest of the country now looks to us as a model of reform and urban renaissance."