Mayor Michael Nutter proposed an approximately $4-billion budget last week, and funding for the city’s health department, which supports HIV/AIDS causes, remained largely unchanged.
Nutter allocated the Department of Public Health approximately $114.49 million from the city’s General Fund, a boost from last year’s $114.48 million. The department is also slated for $932.5 million from the Healthchoices Behavioral Health Revenue Fund, $79 million from the Grants Revenue Fund, $13 million from the Acute Care Hospital Fund and $149 million from state payments.
The Office of Behavioral Health saw a slight decrease in General Fund support, from $13.9 million to $13.8 million, as did the Office of Supportive Housing, from $45 million to $43.6 million.
Funding for the Office of Arts and Culture remained level at $2.67 million, as did funding for the Department of Human Services at $98.3 million, the Human Relations Commission at $2 million and the Office of Housing and Community Development at $3 million.
One of the big newsmakers of the mayor’s budget was the restoration of $2.5 million to the city’s library system, which will enable libraries that were forced to cut their hours a few years back to add another day to their schedules.
In his budget address, Nutter admitted that the controversial library cuts were the “absolute worst decision” of his mayoral tenure, getting emotional during his speech.
Also a hot topic of the budget was the proposed sale of Philadelphia Gas Works, which Nutter has slated to sell to a Connecticut-based company for $1.86 billion and which he projects would generate at least $445 million in city revenue. This would support the city’s municipal pension fund.
There are no new tax increases proposed in the budget.
The March 6 address was met with a large protest outside City Hall by labor union AFSCME District Council 33, which has lacked a contract with the city for several years.
The proposal, Nutter’s second-to-last, will come before Council this spring.