Reference Material for "Tight Times, Tough Choices"

These forums are designed to be working sessions for taxpayers - both to inform participants about the city's fiscal situation and for participants to inform city officials about how Philadelphians want the city to handle the tough choices it faces.

Taxpayers in Philadelphia have never before been asked to come together across neighborhoods to explore budget choices and tradeoffs so they can give elected leaders meaningful input into their decision making process. And it's a complex set of choices and trade-offs we'll need to consider.

If you would like to read articles written about the forums or the report generated by the citizen work at the forums:

• "Heavy turnout at First Budget Workshop" - Chris Satullo
• "Turning to the Public for advice on a Budget" - Jon Hurdle, NY Times
• "Public-input hearings, bless 'em, won't save city's bdget puzzle" - Dave Davies
• "Philadelphia Mayor Plans Rise in Taxes" - Jon Hurdle, NY Times
• "US cities face tough questions in budget squeeze" - Jon Hurdle, Reuters
  

Background information that helped in designing and conducting the forums:

• On how the city budget works: The Economy League of Greater Philadelphia's Roadmap to the Philadelphia Budget
• For news and commentary on the city budget:
  • WHYY's "It's Our City" page
  • Selected Inquirer articles on the budget
    • http://www.philly.com/philly/news/homepage/39300632.html
    • http://www.philly.com/inquirer/opinion/20090210_Decisions_for_Philadelphia.html
  • The Daily News' and WHYY's blog Its Our Money (http://www.philly.com/philly/blogs/our-money/)
  • "Council Members Hear Nutter's Budget-Cut Scenarios" - Marcia Gelbart
  • "Union Criticizes Phila. Budget Process" - Patrick Kerkstra
  • The City Paper's "The New Process"
• City documents on the budget:
  • On the process of moving to a final budget: "Moving Forward Flowchart - The Old Way vs. The New Way"
  • On how we got the current deficit/gap: Mayor Nutter's Updated Budget Forecast
  • Mayor Nutter's Feb. 9 presentation to City Council
  • Frequently Asked Questions About the Budget
• The PICA website. PICA is the Pennsylvania Intergovernmental Cooperation Authority, which was created to provide guidance and oversight to the City of Philadelphia in order to foster sound financial planning and budgetary practices.

Here are some of the materials used at each forum:

• Budget worksheet
• Budget reduction scenarios (this is a large pdf)