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On March 23, 2009, the Economy League launched the interactive, web-based Philadelphia Budget Challenge to help residents think about their priorities for the city not in a vacuum, but in relation to real fiscal constraints and opportunities. Actual City Budget Office numbers for Fiscal Year 2009-10 allowed more than 3,000 citizens to wrestle with the trade-offs that the city administration faces in devising the City of Philadelphia's budget. We hope to obtain support to update the site in the next fiscal year. Until then, you can experience last year's Challenge by visiting http://EconomyLeague.org/budget.
66% Opted to Raise Sales and Property Taxes; Majority Reject BPT and Wage Tax Hike
Mayor Nutter is a frequent visitor to Harrisburg these days in pursuit of support for the city’s plan to increase Philadelphia’s Sales Tax and adjust the city pension fund to balance the FY2010 budget. Are citizens on board with these ideas, or not? Find out in the first Philadelphia Budget Challenge report, a survey of the budget choices made during the first 30 days of the web-based, interactive budget balancing program. ...more
Roll up your sleeves and create your own City budget – how much to spend on police, fire, prisons, and other services and programs – and how to pay for them. Using actual City budget numbers and reflecting items from the Mayor's March 19 budget proposal, your goal is to close Philadelphia's budget gap.
As longtime advocates for citizens’ fiscal education, the Economy League created the Challenge as a public service to engage more Philadelphians in the budget process and to foster greater understanding about the tough choices necessary to ensure that the City is a great place to live and work – both now and in the future.
If you missed the City's own budget workshops, take the Challenge with your family, church group, or classroom and see how your choices compare to fellow Philadelphians! And we will share those choices with City officials. ...more
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