WHEREAS, On November 16, 2017, the School Reform Commission voted to recommend its own dissolution to the Pennsylvania Secretary of Education. The SRC is expected to cease existence on June 30, 2018, restoring control over the School District of Philadelphia to a locally-appointed Board of Education. This means that the City will need to find additional revenues to fund the School District, which is expected to have large budget deficits in coming years; and
WHEREAS, The School Reform Commission was established in 2001, the same year that the Pennsylvania General Assembly adopted Act 22, which transferred control over the Philadelphia Parking Authority (PPA) from the City to the state. No City parking issue or problem precipitated this change. Rather, in City of Philadelphia vs. Schweiker, the Commonwealth and PPA claimed that the state’s interest in enacting Act 22 was to provide adequate funds to the School District of Philadelphia; and
WHEREAS, Through the General Assembly, the PPA has obtained additional duties within Philadelphia since 2001 and has generated funds which are not known to City officials. These funds are collected by the PPA and placed in non-City accounts for use outside the City. To date in Fiscal Year 2018, the PPA has transferred $5,345,925 of Red Light Photo Enforcement Program revenues collected in Philadelphia alone to the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation Motor License Fund; and
WHEREAS, The PPA has never come close to giving the maximum of $45 million annually to the Philadelphia School District as provided in Act 22. Had they done so, the District would have received $675 million over 15 years; and
WHEREAS, The Philadelphia Parking Authority is not accountable to the City of Philadelphia. It has a direct relationship with the General Assembly; and
WHEREAS, The state has not adequately funded the School District of Philadelphia via the PPA or otherwise. As a result, the City has significantly raised property taxes, increased the School District’s percentage of Use and Occupancy Tax, and implemented a state-authorized cigarette tax. These increases have not provided the needed funds; and
WHEREAS, As the state’s takeover of the School District and the PPA occurred within the same period, so should the restoration of local control over both institutions to the City of Philadelphia. As the City restores local control over its School District, it is also time for the City to work with the General Assembly and the Governor to work out an agreement to restore control over the PPA and its revenues to the City; now, therefore, be it
RESOLVED, BY THE COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF PHILADELPHIA, That we hereby request the Mayor of Philadelphia, the Pennsylvania General Assembly, and the Governor of Pennsylvania to act to restore control over the Philadelphia Parking Authority and its revenues to the City of Philadelphia.
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