Philadelphia budget: Parker proposes delivery, ride-hailing and hotel taxes to pay for housing, public safety initiatives

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Philadelphia Mayor Cherelle Parker on Thursday called for installing a “Philly GPS” — short for growth, prosperity and security — in what she described as a “roadmap to self-sufficiency, a path that makes it easier for every Philadelphian to move up, not just get by.”

The plan includes spending more money — from $10 million to support a modular home factory to $25 million for community-based anti-violence services to keep the city safer.

In a budget address to City Council that clocked in at two hours and eight minutes, beating President Donald Trump’s record-setting one-hour, 47-minute State of the Union address, Parker started by talking about what she sees as her administration’s accomplishments and the city’s ability to survive a rough economy, albeit with more than a billion dollars in federal COVID funding.

That money is gone now, and the city’s plan is to set aside $91 million on reserve, just in case the Trump administration cuts funding to the city.

The mayor said she wants to provide people with the ability to move forward economically.

“If we get this right — by making value-driven, data-informed investments — Philadelphia can become the national model for economic mobility. This is our moment, our chance to do what no city has done before,” Parker said.

Parker’s plan includes spending to support her initiative against homelessness, an effort that aims to add 1,000 new shelter beds in city-owned and city-leased facilities.

To pay for that, Budget Director Sabrina Maynard said there will be an additional 2% added to the cost of renting a hotel room in the city.

“This is something that would bring in $20 million a year, our ambitious goal is to end street homelessness in Philadelphia,” Maynard said.

The plan would also help spruce up city facilities, including some famous destinations.

The plan proposes $33 million over the capital program dedicated to HVAC upgrades at libraries.

Spurred by the leadership of former Council President Darrell Clarke, the administration also plans to continue its $50 million investment to support the relocation of the African American Museum in Philadelphia, while also boosting operating support for the Dell Music Center in Fairmount Park by $500,000 a year and adding $1 million in capital funding.

Finance Director Rob Dubow said the budget is dependent on federal funding and no longer has Biden-era COVID recovery money to fall back on.

“In [fiscal year 2025], we received over 2 billion [dollars] in federal grants. They support a whole range of really critical programs and services,” Dubow said. “Any reduction in that support would require really difficult choices from us, and we do not have the financial capacity to compensate for major losses of federal funding.”

The budget also calls for a 25-cent tax for each delivery of goods from the likes of Amazon and Walmart, along with a 20-cent tax on ride-hailing services like Uber and Lyft, to support school funding and a mandate that out-of-city merchants collect the additional 2% tax on sales to city residents.

City Council has already announced they will start their microscopic review of the numbers March 24. That gives the city’s legislative branch a chance to bring every operating department into their chambers to grill them on things they want for their constituents and figure out how to shift money around in the budget to pay for them.

The mayor said she believes the new revenues will continue to make “big things possible.”

“From improving economic mobility and creating good-paying jobs, to building and restoring 30,000 units of housing, to improving the quality of education in our schools, to keeping our streets safer, cleaner and greener for every resident of our great city,” Parker said.

Parker ended her speech taking a page out of Michael Douglas’ portrayal of a chief executive in the 1995 movie “The American President.”

“My name is Cherelle L. Parker, and I am the 100th mayor and first woman to lead Philadelphia in 341 years. I’ve proposed this One Philly, One Future budget to the City Council of Philadelphia, and I approve this message,” she said.