Mayor’s historic first budget makes major investments in Public Safety, Cleaning & Greening, Economic Opportunity, Housing & Education
PHILADELPHIA– Last evening,CityCouncil gave preliminary approval to Mayor Cherelle L. Parker’s Fiscal Year 2025 (FY25) One Philly Budget – her first as mayor of Philadelphia.
CityCouncil’s Committee of the Whole gave preliminary approval to the amended FY25 Operating Budget and FY25-30 Capital Budget and Program. The amended budget package includesover $2.39 billionin new operating and capital investments, aligned with Mayor Parker’s top priority areas: Public Safety, Clean and Green, Economic Opportunity, Education, and Housing.
In March, Mayor Parker proposed her historic One Philly Budget calling for no new taxes, while proposing new targeted investments to make Philadelphia the Safest, Cleanest and Greenest Big City in America, with Economic Opportunity for All.
“I thank Council President Johnson and members of City Council for voting to advance my One Philly Budget that delivers on my promise of a government that makes unprecedented investments in public safety, in making Philadelphia cleaner and greener, and providing economic opportunity for every Philadelphian,” said Mayor Cherelle L. Parker. “Residents will be able to see, touch, and feel the positive impacts of this budget in their neighborhoods, along their commercial corridors, and throughout Philadelphia.”
Among the highlights given preliminary approval todayin this agreement between Mayor Parker and City Council:
Homestead Exemption Increase: The City is completing its most recent citywide revaluation of properties. To protect homeowners from rising property tax bills, the Mayor and Council are increasing the Homestead Exemption from $80,000 to $100,000. This will provide a savings of up to $280 on homeowners’ property taxes.
Low-Income Tax Freeze: Paired with the homestead increase is a new relief program – a freeze in property tax increases for low-income homeowners.
Together, these two targeted initiatives – in addition to existing programs – provide comprehensive protections for homeowners, preserving the family-wealth building opportunity of homeownership. The budget also includes $1 million in additional funding for outreach by the Revenue Department to ensure eligible homeowners access and benefit from these programs.
Public Safety ($636 million operating and capital over the Five-Year Plan (FYP) and Capital Program)
Kicked off by the Public Safety Plan ordered by Mayor Parker on Day One, key investments include:
- Hiring 400 Police Officers; increasing the size and frequency of recruiting classes.
- Expansion of and new training for community policing.
- Reducing violent crime through more strategic deployment of personnel; technology upgrades to support investigations; increasing funding for anti-violence grants to nearly $28.8 million.
- Combatting open-air drug markets.
- $100 million investment to begin building a citywide wellness ecosystem, supporting long-term care, treatment, and housing.
- Addressing crimes against property and quality-of-life offenses, such as illegal use of all-terrain vehicles (ATVs), car meetups, retail theft, and nuisance businesses.
- Hiring additional victim advocates.
- Revamped COMPSTAT process to use data in prevention and enforcement.
Clean & Green ($477 million operating and capital over the FYP and Capital Program)
Key investments include:
- Launchingnewcitywide Cleaning and Greening program, with the goal of cleaning every city block.
- Expanding PHL Taking Care of Business (PHL TCB) to residential areas and streets adjacent to targeted commercial corridors.
- Piloting twice-weekly trash collection in areas with most challenging trash and litter conditions.
- Addressing quality-of-life issues, like illegal dumping, abandoned cars and litter.
Economic Opportunity ($306 million operating and capital over the FYP and Capital Program)
Key investments include:
- $10 million to support workforce development and employer partnerships that include commitments to employment, not just a revolving door of training programs. The funding will be used to train Philadelphians for careers in industries that are already thriving and those that are projected to grow, including the building trades, logistics, and life sciences and biotech.
- Launched new PHL Open for Business: all-of-government effort to reduce the cost and complexity businesses face when navigating City government
- Building infrastructure for collaboration: Offering new models of collaboration through Business, Faith-Based, and Intergovernmental Mayoral Roundtables, focused on developing solutions to shared challenges.
- Cultural facilities: $1,000,000 each forthe Delland the Mann to support capital needs.
Education ($293 million operating and capital over the FYP and Capital Program)
Key investments include:
- Increase in millage share that goes to the School District from 55 to 56 percent. The One Philly budget makes over $24 million in new investments in the District for FY25, and nearly $129 million over theFive-Year Plan.
- Supporting K-12 schools. Provides young people with extended-day, extended-year enrichment and career development opportunities; and addresses the urgent need for school facilities improvement.
- Launching City College for Municipal Employment. A Community College of Philadelphia (CCP), City and School District collaboration and first-of-its-kind pipeline to City jobs that will recruit people at the start of their careers, support those seeking to up-skill and help expand access to opportunity.
- An additional $5 million in operating support for the Community College of Philadelphia (CCP).
Housing ($100 million operating over the FYP)
Key investments include:
- Continuing investment in housing through programs like Turn the Key; Restore Repair Renew; and Basic Systems Repair Program (BSRP) – building towards the Mayor’sgoal of 30,000 units of housing built, repaired, or preserved.
- Housing production: Ensuring City-supported new housing is “affordable luxury” with high-quality fixtures and finishes; comprehensive review of Land Bank aimed at more quickly returning parcels to productive use; $14 million for rebuilding of University City Townhomes.
- Housing Preservation: Making it easier for residents and landlords to access City-funded home improvement programs through a Single Home Improvement Application (SHIA); $5 million to Philadelphia Energy Authority for Built to Last home repair program; $750,000 for tangled title support at the Register of Wills.
- Rental Assistance: $19 million to support rental assistance programs.
- Access to Homeownership: Institutionalizing Philadelphia Home Appraisal Bias Task Force within City government to help implement its findings; supporting Philadelphia Human Relations Commission (PCHR) to focus educational and enforcement efforts on eliminating home appraisal discrimination.
“I said in March, ‘don’t just listen to what I say, watch what we do’. I hoped we would work together with diplomacy, diligence and purpose to implement a budget for the People of Philadelphia,” Mayor Parker said. “Today, we have shown the people we have done just that. This will be the standard operating procedure for my administration working with our partners in City Council, to serve all of Philadelphia.”
