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5 Wishes for the FY27-31 5YP
As the City of Philadelphia prepares its FY27–31 Five-Year Financial Plan, PICA outlines five recommendations to strengthen the Plan’s transparency and accuracy and to improve the City’s fiscal condition. These include maintaining reserves and pension funding commitments, scoping initiatives more accurately, ensuring an adequate labor reserve, publishing capital spending data, and making staff vacancy assumptions…
When is a Budget Cut Not a Budget Cut?
A proposed budget reduction isn’t always a true cut—sometimes it reflects the end of one-time costs, a shift in responsibility to another department, or reduced demand for services. For instance, FY26 budgets for Parks & Recreation and Homeless Services are lower than FY25, but not all changes imply service reductions. To discern real impacts, stakeholders…
Making MidYear Moves: What to Include & Avoid in a MidYear Budget Amendment
PICA’s FY24 MidYear Budget Amendment Issue Brief evaluates trends in Philadelphia’s MidYear Transfer Ordinances, outlining best practices for responsible amendments and highlighting risks of excessive mid-year budget changes.