Monday, an editorial in the Philadelphia Daily News called on City Council to allow greater public input in the budget process, and to let the public testify directly after each department makes its budget case. On Tuesday, Council president Anna Verna announced in Council that she will not open the hearings as suggested by the Daily News (and by One Philadelphia). She read her statement at the conclusion of today's hearing on the Five-Year Financial and Strategic Plan.
The public is only allowed to testify during 3 of 65 public hearings from now until the end of April. The rest of the hearings will only be for department heads and officials from the Nutter administration. This means that all testimony from the public, on all topics related to the general operating budget, will be squeezed together on one day. Another day is set aside for comment on issues related to taxes and the third is for public comment on the school budget.
According to Councilman Curtis Jones, "It's almost like having a debate where your debate partner has already left the stage. The administration speaks, the special interests speak, and way down the line, the public speaks. We should allow more input from the public." Councilman Jones suggested a number of other reforms, such as holding the hearings in the evening or having sessions in neighborhoods across the city, to increase the number of people who can participate in the budget process.
Councilwoman Verna does not believe allowing the public to testify during each hearing would make the process more open. "Every public hearing is televised and publicized in the three largest newspapers...I don't know of any legislative body that is as open as Council. We're here sometimes till 12am or 1am." She feels that allowing public testimony during each hearing would make the entire process too long. Verna also pointed out during her statement that the public can still submit written testimony to be distributed to members of council.
There are certainly logistical challenges related to allowing more public testimony. Still, City Council should be able to come up with some creative solutions. There has to be a middle ground between allowing testimony during every hearing and only allow three days of public input. The current structure clear does not allow enough testimony from ordinary citizens about the decisions that will impact their daily lives.
Then again, that's why we're here! Go take a look at our "Testify" thread and let us know what you think the budget priorities for the city should be.
Comments (2)
Having attended neighborhood meetings in North and West Philadelphia, I fully support subjecting City Council to the torture of having budget hearings, and allowing feedback, in these neighborhoods until they agree to pass the bill allowing the police commissioner to appoint deputies exempt from civil service, the bill that would create an independent office of the Inspector General, the bill that would exempt all city employees from residing in the city for at least a year prior to being hired, the bill that would eliminate the Gross Receipts Tax, and a bill that would significantly lower the Net Income Tax.
Posted by Goofy | February 26, 2008 7:14 PM
A vignette from the budget hearing today:
I (a young female Philadelphia resident) was listening to testimony at the hearing this morning when an unidentified city hall insider came up behind me and brazenly whispered something very inappropriate in my ear. I was shocked and felt this was an attempt to undermine my participation in the hearing. I'll leave it to others to extrapolate what this little verbal assault indicates about the city hall mindset, if anything.
Posted by anonymous | February 26, 2008 7:38 PM