The city of Philadelphia is doing better in tax collections, but the group monitoring its money says they aren’t completely back to pre-pandemic levels.

Philadelphia ended up with a largely status quo budget despite huge political pressure to make something more of an extraordinary moment.

The Philadelphia Fire Department spent $24 million this year in overtime.

Mayor Kenney acknowledged the poor outlook for city finances, as he warned that the budget he proposes in March for the next fiscal year is likely “not going to be pretty.”

The city has hired more than 900 employees since Fiscal Year 2017. At the same time, overtime spending has increased.

A severe economic downturn would trigger painful cuts to city services, while upcoming challenges will test Philadelphia’s fiscal stability.

The report by the Pennsylvania Intergovernmental Cooperation Authority analyzed the $20.7 million the city spent on police overtime from July 2017 through June 2018

City overtime costs are down, but the city is expected to bust through its overtime budget by year’s end.

While the Kenney administration has negotiated contracts with the city’s four major labor unions during he last two years that gave them all substantial raises.

PhillyVoice Philadelphia spent another record amount of money on overtime pay in the fiscal year that ended in July, but for the first time in years, it stayed below what it budgeted. That includes actual savings in the overtime police get to testify in court.

In the first seven month of fiscal year 2018, police officers racked up $12 million in overtime.

Philadelphia may be in for some service cuts as it struggles to pay for new municipal labor contracts, according to a city official.