Solve the Philadelphia budget crisis online
April 7, 2009
Christopher Wink, Technically Philly
Somebody please figure out this city's budget shortfall so we can go back to prospering.
It can be Mayor Michael Nutter or city council or, Hell, maybe Larry West.
Maybe you can figure it out with a new, very cool online toy from the Economy League of Greater Philadelphia, the research and analysis nonprofit based on the Avenue of the Arts.
At EconomyLeague.com/Budget, users get a snapshot of the budget battle, by having to close a $200 million hole with 15 options.
"Through the Philadelphia Budget Challenge as well as the Mayor's budget forums in February, citizens are getting a look behind the curtain at the real trade-offs city managers have to make," said Allison Kelsey, a spokeswoman for the Economy League. "It makes for better-informed constituents and voters who can then be better advocates for themselves, their neighborhoods and their city."
See what went into the project, read how I fared and share your own choices below.
Since its March 23 launch, some 2,000 people have taken the challenge, which was funded by West Conshohocken's Lenfest Foundation, Kelsey told Technically Philly.
Steven Wray, the Economy League executive director, called the online tool a three-way exercise.
"To help people learn more about the city budget, and the second part was to make that learning experience fun, and then finally to also be able to collect some information about the choices people make," Wray told KYW.
So the game, which focuses on short-term choices, might lack a bit of nuance for budget geeks out there, but a great deal of learning is to be had there.
The Economy League is sharing their results, suggesting the administration might take those perspectives into consideration - something it seems they surprisingly did do after those citizen workshops.
Kelsey said she doesn't know if the mayor gave the online tool a go.
"Most Philadelphians are unaware of how much of the city's total budget is already spent before the mayor and council have their say," Kelsey said, directing users to see its breakdown of how the city used its $3.9 billion budget, which is seen below, and alsohow the city generated its revenue last fiscal year.
The Economy League hopes to update the tool annually, keeping choices nuanced and situation-based as the times change, Kelsey said.
The challenge has made a bit of a splash, in addition to outlets around town, the tool has gotten attention across the pond, too. It breaks our tiny TP heart, though, that not a single Philly tech head had a hand in the design of the challenge, according to the Economy League press release:
The Economy League licensed the prototype from Next 10, a Palo Alto organization that in 2005 created its "California Budget Challenge" to engage more Californians in the budget process. The original software was developed by Red Hill Studios, and additional development for the Philadelphia Budget Challenge was created by Rock River Star, Downingtown, PA. [Source]
The century-old Economy League offers a host of fascinating documents to help inform yourself on the process, including its budget roadmap. See the mayor's five-year budget plan.
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[I couldn't help but share my choices, which still left the city $5.1 million over budget -- so maybe I'd go after the Eagles. This also serves some transparency into my view of the city structure.
I didn't touch the city's wage, sales and business privilege taxes -- doing otherwise feels far, far more dangerous than other proposals. I increased slightly real estate and amusement taxes and trimmed spending for the city's library spending and office of supportive housing.
I really didn't want to touch prison funding because we know the fist programs to go are the most helpful -- job training and the like -- but I did. Hoping to take seriously the politics involved in a budget proposal, I didn't touch police and fire department spending, though I did seek for a reassessment of the city's pension fund.
My big cuts were 20 percent dips into the city's administrative and licenses & inspections departments and a big fat 30 percent slash of the city's fleet management (city employees should be using SEPTA, period.)
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