By Bill Rowland

A cold, dark night greeted attendees at the final to citizens Budget Forum at the Pinn Memorial Baptist Church last Monday night. (Feb 23) Understanding just how contentious a public forum on cutting the city budget might be, I was sure that things would warm up quickly. Interestingly enough, I was wrong.

Wall hanging at Pinn Memorial Baptist Church

Wynnefield Avenue felt deserted as I walked up the street, but as I rounded the corner of North 54th, the church was a hub of activity; people were converging on the entrance from all sides. Walking through the doors was an experience; participants had to run a gauntlet of politicians, citizen groups and interested parties each handing out their own pamphlet, flyer or newsletter. Some of these had a direct impact on the evening’s topic and others did not. Frankly, it made me feel like I was at a carnival.

Everyone had pamphlets and flyers for us to read

Supplied with the official materials, I found my way to the main auditorium where I sorted through my handful of paper. The room was filling rapidly and the appearance of vocal civic groups armed with signs suggested that the evening could be a long one. Surprisingly, as the event started, the crowd of 400 settled down and appeared to be focused on the evening’s program.

Anyone who wanted to write a message to the mayor could do so here

Before breaking into groups, Penn’s Harris Sokoloff briefly laid down the ground rules, while WHYY’s Chris Satullo moderated a panel of city and local officials to explain how the city found itself in such a financial mess. So, supplied with the essential knowledge to discuss the tough budgetary decisions at hand, the assembly dispersed to find their assigned groups.

As attendees streamed out of the auditorium, Group 11 (was seated and Moderators Kayte Connelly and Lorretta Raider began prepping us for the evening’s work. We quickly jumped into the Citizen Worksheet (pdf) which listed proposed spending cuts or revenue generators; each action had a corresponding value and it was up to us to find $200 million in savings and/or revenues to help balance the city’s budget over the next fiscal year. (July 1-June 30)

Looking for common ground and quick victories, we first focused on the “low hanging fruit,” or items everyone could agree on. We found a handful of items including collection of back rent for veterans stadium - Eagles (Item 20), increase the Amusement Tax (Item 17) and increase Parking fees (Item 21), but it was surprising how much conversation was generated by items that should be easy. Afterwards, it felt as though the entire group generally agreed with a philosophy of avoiding cuts in services to those in need.

As the conversation continued, I was surprised by the flexibility that the group exhibited. Focused on maintaining momentum after the challenge of finding “low hanging fruit,” participants were willing to skip over items to revisit them later.

Suggestions from the group were written down on lists

Looking for more agreement, the group focused on items that shouldn’t even be considered (aka “No Way, No Hows”). After a lot of discussion, we agreed on five; all of which seemed consistent with our adopted philosophy. For those keeping score, we agreed that items 6, 8, 7, 13 and 14 should not even be considered. The realization that this will eliminate $24 M in potential savings gave us a reality check; so far we had found only $8 Million.

Needless to say, pragmatism ruled the rest of the evening for Group 11. With the clock ticking, it was time to get down to business. As additional items were considered, we uncovered a few more Low Hanging Fruit, and a couple No Way, No Hows, but most of the remaining items fell into the “Shared Pain” category (those items that achieved only a slight majority). These included opportunities like reducing the city’s Fleet of vehicles (Item 15), increasing the Sales Tax (Item 24) and others. There were a few Items Taken Off the Table (no majority achieved) and we never seemed to define Gut Wrenchers (Actions that nobody wanted, but had to consider after efforts to close the budget gap failed).

My biggest disappointment of the evening was our failure to seriously address the 800 pound gorillas in the room: reducing the budgets of the Police and Fire departments (Items 11 and 5 respectively). Of course, nobody wanted to even think about it, but after going through this process, the general feeling was that there are very few “sacred cows” left. I guess this was the definition of Gut Wrencher?

These are just a few of the Wailing Wall pages that were created that night

Overall, I was impressed by the decision making ability of Group 11. Where I expected an evening of contentious argument, I received a remarkably civilized discussion. Furthermore, arguments were well thought out and group members treated each other with respect, even when they disagreed. Why didn’t I expect this? I don’t know, but perhaps the daily grind of city life has lowered my expectations. If my experience at Pinn Memorial Baptist Church is any indication, maybe it’s time to fix that.

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Related link:

Moderator Reports from Budget Workshop #4