Budget hearings officially underway in Philadelphia City Council

Philadelphia City Council began budget hearings Tuesday morning with testimony from the Kenney administration. 

“We’ll pretty much have a lot of fun,” promised Council President Darrell Clarke. “There’s a couple of days where it will get a little testy, but it’s business. It’s nothing personal.”

After that light introduction, Clarke steered the hearing to the tax on sugary drinks that the Kenney administration has proposed to pay for everything from citywide pre-K to bolstering the city’s pension funds.  

Consumers might not have to pay all of the 3 cents per ounce soda tax, said finance director Rob Dubow.

“It’s not necessarily that it will be spread among all groceries,” he said. “It may be that the distributors take some of the hit themselves,  then passes some of that on.”

“At the end of the day, they are going to pass that on.,” Clarke observed.

A full debate on the tax is not expected until May.