Philadelphia City Controller sees good news from revenue numbers

It’s been a month since the city of Philadelphia ended its fiscal year. The City Controller says the numbers have spoken–and there’s good news that could be a harbinger of better times ahead.

 

Alan Butkovitz says the city ended the fiscal year with $200 million more in revenues over the previous year.

“The realty transfer tax is up 24 percent, business privilege tax is up 19 percent, so this is extrodinary good news. There’s indications that manufacturers are expecting to hire more people in survey responses over the next few months.”

Butkovitz says the money of course is desparately needed in the city, and the increased revenue appears to be part of a trend.

“Generally this is a continuation of the recovery that we’ve seen for the last four months in this area.  Housing market is very active, between a 15 and 20 percent increase in housing sales. Things are looking up.”

The controller says he’s hopeful the good news will continue through the fall.