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Budget Address of
Mayor Michael A. Nutter
February 14, 2008
Good morning Council President Verna, Majority Leader Tasco, Majority Whip Clarke, Minority Leader O'Neill, Minority Whip Rizzo, members of Council, guests and my fellow Philadelphians.
What a pleasure it is to return to these hallowed chambers where the public's business has been guided by Council President Anna Verna, who for almost a decade now has made sure that every Council member has had the opportunity to succeed in advancing their public policy goals.
Council President, I appreciate your leadership now as much as I did when I was a member of City Council and look forward to a productive partnership as we address the needs of Philadelphians.
Five weeks ago we took our oath of office and pledged to work together, to make Philadelphia the city of our dreams, the safest, cleanest, best educated, most productive city in America. For all of us, it was a NEW DAY.
Now, it's time for the NEW WAY.
As I present a proposed budget for 2009 and a Five-Year Plan for your consideration, my message is straightforward: We confront fiscal issues that have been ignored for too long. The time for heavy lifting has arrived.
But if we work together in partnership, if we make smart investments, we'll secure our future and make this city and region strong as we face the global economic challenges of this century.
This is not a message of fear and doubt. It is a message about hope and change.
Yet, as the elected and appointed officials of this government we must recognize an unvarnished truth.
Many Philadelphians hold a jaundiced, cynical view of local government. And why not? They sent their hard-earned tax dollars to us and in return they encountered an unresponsive bureaucracy where the pay-to-play culture and 'who you know' was the perceived standard of service.
We must do better. And today we start that journey.
Customer Service
Imagine a time when Philadelphians brag about their government services, when those services are delivered quickly and at the lowest possible cost, and with a smile instead of a frown?
We're going to make that happen. It starts with old fashioned respect. This government is here for only one reason - to provide the very best service to the people of this city.
And in our actions, we're going to be open, transparent and accountable. We're going to identify problems, map out plans to solve them and then get the job done. But it doesn't end there.
We're not going to create another bureaucracy, feed it scarce tax dollars and then walk away saying 'job done.' Absolutely not. Results matter and we're going to manage for results.
Providing quality service is a constant conversation with the customer -- the people and businesses of this city -- and we're going to become very good listeners. We're going to track our performance very carefully and make continuous adjustments.
This proposed budget and strategic plan identifies core service areas that we all agree upon - public safety, education, jobs, healthy, sustainable communities, delivered by a government with the highest ethical standards and a commitment to top-notch customer service.
But as we begin this lengthy budget process, let us not get lost in big numbers and obscure budget principles. Our actions will impact on the lives of Philadelphians.
Public Safety
And as I made clear on my first day in office, public safety is going to be a central concern for us. In the last few years, the echo of gunshots on our streets, the sound of police sirens in the night, the tragic and unacceptably large number of homicides - it has all sapped our spirit.
But I believe the new crime fighting strategy conceived by Police Commissioner Ramsey is going to change the dynamic in our neighborhoods as 200 more officers hit the streets by May 1 and many more follow in the coming year. We're going to focus on high crime areas and use proven policing strategies, from lawful stop and frisk procedures to a rededicated effort to get guns off the streets.
In the next five years we're going to spend $78 million in new funds to hire more police. By the end of fiscal 2009, we'll have 400 more officers on the street.
As part of our new capital plan, we'll invest $16 million for desperately needed improvements to police buildings and technology. In addition, we propose to spend $2 million each year to create a network of surveillance cameras that will enhance our safety. By the end of this year, alone, we will install 250 surveillance cameras and more are in the pipeline.
But even a return to basic policing informed by the latest data-driven techniques is not enough. That's why I am recommending a substantial increase in city funding, $5 million in the coming year and $25 million over the next five years, for the Youth Violence Reduction Partnership, which provides intensive services to young people aged 15 to 24 who are identified as most likely to kill or be killed.
This program has a proven track record and many vocal advocates such as Councilwoman Donna Miller, who has pushed for more resources. The new funding will help us expand the program beyond the current police districts served.
And related to our efforts to protect the city's youth, I want to say that the 14,000 children receiving child protection services are not going to be forgotten. I have directed the Commissioner of Human Services to notify its contractors that they will be funded through the end of the year.
Keeping the public safe also means getting to the sick and injured as quickly as possible. We need to improve our response time in emergency medical services.
Already, we've added $1.2 million this year, to increase the number of medic units and the number of units we deploy during peak hours.
On Tuesday, I proposed a $3.8 million increase to the Emergency Medical Services budget, which will support increased overtime and staffing for 40 new EMT's as well as two new vehicles in the coming fiscal year, with three more to follow in 2010.
These changes could not have been made without the persuasive advocacy of Councilwoman Joan Krajewski, the analytical spotlight cast on this issue by City Controller Alan Butkovitz and the technical expertise of Fire Commissioner Lloyd Ayers and I want to thank each of them for their assistance.
Increasing our EMS capacity is going to help us improve our response time to life-threatening emergencies, but we also need to unburden our 911 system, where fully a third of the calls are not emergencies.
Heeding the advice and hard work done by Councilman Jim Kenney in this area, we are going to establish a 311 non-emergency system with annual allocations of $2 million.
This 311 system will also enable us to enter a new world of customer service. Citizens will no longer have to search high and low for a number to call with the range of quality of life problems that beset us, from potholes and abandoned cars to tree limbs and trash complaints.
Our goal by the end of the year is to have a new system called PhillyStat, which will track these service calls from start to finish.
We'll know how long it takes the Streets Department or L&I to respond and when the problem is resolved. It will become a key element in our drive toward accountability and greater efficiency.
And I also know that PhillyStat will please City Councilman Bill Greenlee who has been pushing hard for more efficient delivery of city services.
Health and Sustainable Neighborhoods
Philadelphia has always been one of America's great cities and part of its charm is its thriving Center City, but we're also a city of neighborhoods, distinct, quirky but always interesting neighborhoods.
As part of our plan to promote healthy and sustainable neighborhoods, I want to establish Philadelphia as THE GREEN CITY in America, from an emphasis on green construction practices to a nat
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