Philadelphia Mayor Cherelle Parker’s new budget proposal fully funds the City’s violence prevention programs, which officials say were instrumental in reducing homicides and shootings by more than 35 percent last year.
During her March 13 budget address, Parker reiterated that public safety is her top priority. Her $6.7 billion budget proposal includes $186.4 million in new money for public safety, which will fund key initiatives in the police and fire departments, city prisons, and drug treatment facilities.
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Her decision to prioritize making the city safer is paying off, Parker told an audience packed into the City Council chambers. “I said last year that I felt a sense of urgency and that we’d be laser-focused and unapologetic about improving public safety. How did we do? Homicides are down 37 percent. Shootings are down 36 percent,” Parker said. “I promised it, and it’s working.”
Philly’s upcoming budget won’t include funds from the American Rescue Plan Act, the $1.4 billion in pandemic relief aid that was spent from fiscal year 2022 through December. At the same time, uncertainty persists over billions in federal grants because of President Trump’s promises to slash federal spending. Still, no existing programs are currently slated for reductions, City officials said.
“I know that there is uncertainty in the air right now. People don’t know what to expect from their government. Uncertainty can breed fear,” Parker said. “I want the people of Philadelphia and our City employees to hear me: Your City is here to keep you safe and to safeguard your basic rights.”
“Given the large amount of grants that we get, any reduction could have a really big impact on our budget.” — City of Philadelphia Finance Director Rob Dubow
Existing City funding, Finance Director Rob Dubow said during a news briefing, will pay for public safety programs that were funded with the last recovery fund dollars. Those programs include the Group Violence Intervention program and the Community Crisis Intervention Program, which seek to help those most likely to become enmeshed in gun violence.
“We knew that that money was time-limited, and we knew that if there were programs that we wanted to keep, we’d have to figure out how to keep them funded,” Dubow said. “So, we’re doing that with the revenue that we have.”
But Kelsey Leon, who works with Community Action Relief Project, a volunteer-based harm-reduction program in the city’s Kensington community, was not impressed by what she heard during the address.
The budget proposal includes a Wellness Court, which provides treatment and other services rather than jail sentences to those arrested for drug use. But, Leon said, many in Kensington are skeptical, partly because of the Police Department’s involvement.
Adding more officers in the community, she said, is also troubling. “If they’re willing to invest all of this money, time, and energy, I just wish it went to solutions that are proven to work,” she said.
Leon said the city should restart the syringe exchange program, which Parker ended when she took office.
What’s being funded
The new budget proposal includes $67 million for a forensics lab, $4.6 million to equip all police officers with body cameras, and $350,000 for police recruitment. “I fully support every police officer who’s on the front lines, protecting and serving Philadelphians — so long as they do so without any misuse or abuse of their constitutional authority,” Parker said.
“It means a lot to the men and women of the department to help us meet our goals,” said Police Commissioner Kevin Bethel. “We’re about to embark on a five-year strategic plan, and we need that support to be able to get there. We’re not going to be able to change without those investments or modernize without those investments.”
Because Philadelphia ended fiscal year 2024 with a healthy fund balance and expects to do the same at the end of this fiscal year, the city’s “finances overall are stable,” Dubow said.
“If they’re willing to invest all of this money, time, and energy, I just wish it went to solutions that are proven to work.” — Kelsey Leon, Community Action Relief Project
But normal challenges, including the need for infrastructure repairs in a city as old as Philadelphia, coupled with the tenuous federal funding situation, pose real financial risks in the upcoming year, he added.
The City has created a $95 million funding reserve because of the uncertainty at the federal level, which, Dubow said, “could hit us in a couple of ways.” In 2024, he said, Philly had about $2.8 billion in federal grants. “A lot of them are being reexamined. Some of them are being temporarily held up,” he said. “So, the timing and amount of those grants is really uncertain, and given the large amount of grants that we get, any reduction could have a really big impact on our budget.”
In addition, Dubow said, about $1 billion in city tax revenue comes from people employed by the federal government and from educational and medical institutions that receive federal research funding. Reductions in federal government jobs and funding to those institutions would have a direct impact on city revenues, he said.
The budget also includes $25 million in anti-violence grants; $740,000 for victim relocation funding; and $500,000 for the city’s domestic violence hotline.
The next step for Parker’s budget proposal is a series of budget and community hearings that the City Council will convene during the spring. The Council must approve the final budget document by June 30, the last day of the fiscal year.
At the state level, Governor Josh Shapiro included a $10 million increase to the Violence Intervention and Prevention grant program in his 2025-26 budget proposal. Over the last two years, the Pennsylvania Commission on Crime and Delinquency has provided more than $600 million in funding for over 3,500 grants across the Commonwealth to address and prevent violence, according to Shapiro’s office.
Mensah Dean is a staff writer at The Trace. Previously he was a staff writer on the Justice & Injustice team at The Philadelphia Inquirer, where he focused on gun violence, corruption and wrongdoing in the public and private sectors for five years. Mensah also covered criminal courts, public schools and city government for the Philadelphia Daily News, the Inquirer’s sister publication.
