Rendell budget focuses on quality of life, tax cuts

Philadelphia Mayor Ed Rendell yesterday unveiled a proposed $2.7 billion budget for fiscal year 2000 that emphasizes cutting taxes and increasing the "quality of life" for Philadelphians. Highlights of the budget include a small cut in the wage tax rate and increased spending for police, public libraries and city maintenance. In front of a packed City Council chamber, Rendell reminded the Council members and the press of the fiscal state the city was in when he took office in 1992 -- "a city on the brink," he called it, teetering on the edge of bankruptcy with a $200 million annual deficit. But now, an enthusiastic Rendell talked both about Philadelphia's recent successes -- including budget surpluses and landing the 2000 Republican National Convention -- and plans for the city's future, many of which will take effect after he leaves City Hall at the end of 1999. "So, in this final budget address, I come to you with a full agenda for the 11 months we have remaining to work together -- and also with a vision for our great city in the early years of its new millennium," Rendell told the assembled City Council members. Rendell cited a series of tax cuts which began four years ago -- the city's first in 50 years -- in proposing that the trend continue by lowering the resident wage tax rate from 4.6869 percent to 4.6135 percent. Already, the cuts of the past four years have saved Philadelphia taxpayers and employers a cumulative $207 million which Rendell hopes will, in the end, increase the tax base for the city. Other priorities on the mayor's agenda included police funding, job growth and welfare reform. Rendell also pledged that if the state agrees to take on a greater portion of the costs of running the court system -- as he said it does for every other city in Pennsylvania -- he will direct the estimated $160 million in savings to Philadelphia's beleaguered public school system. That proposal caught the eye of several Council members. "The thing that I most applauded in the speech, which struck me as most creative, is the intent to dedicate all the present dollars that go to support the courts to the school system," Council member Augusta Clark said. "I think if we could pull education up in Philadelphia, it would be the greatest economic engine we could have," she added. Rendell -- a Penn alumnus -- mentioned briefly the revitalization going on in University City, heralding Sansom Common and the upcoming Sundance Cinemas project as initiatives that "will spark a new energy." He also warned the Council against "return[ing] to the days when Philadelphia lived beyond its means and lurched from crisis to crisis." After decades of economic struggle, a crumbling job base and a plummeting population, the City of Philadelphia has experienced six consecutive years with a balanced budget, and even ended fiscal year 1998 with a record $169.2 million surplus. And while Rendell -- who is widely expected to pursue higher office after his mayoral tenure ends -- is undeniably happy with the turnaround since his administration took over, he warned of the obstacles to maintaining such prosperity. "Probably the most important budgetary challenge, however, will be the difficulty of just saying no," he noted. "In a city where our needs are so great, and where our resources remain so limited, it is an absolutely critical part of our jobs to reject countless legitimate and worthy demands for public funds." Council member Jannie Blackwell, whose district includes West Philadelphia, was pleased with Rendell's proposal and believed the budget would become a reality. "I think the mayor has been pretty realistic and down-to-earth overall in his budget," Blackwell said. "And when he puts it out there, he's committed to seeing that it's achieved." Although few items in the proposal deal specifically with University City or Penn, the budget will affect the area indirectly, according to Theodore Hershberg, professor of Public Policy and History and the director of the Center for Greater Philadelphia. The proposals "are all things that help the city. The fact that downtown is healthy has helped Penn because we are right next door," said Hershberg.