FISCAL AND BUDGETARY MATTERS

Philadelphia Home Rule Charter art. VIII, ch. 1

in effect

Philadelphia Home Rule Charter § 8-100 Fiscal Year.

§ 8-100. Fiscal Year. For the present, the City's fiscal year shall be the calendar year but the Council may by ordinance adopt a different fiscal year. ANNOTATION Sources: No specific source. Purposes: It is considered better budgetary practice for the fiscal year to commence on or about July 1. This was not practicable for the City because real estate tax assessment and payment requirements, specified by statute, produce most of the City's revenue in the months of March, April and May. However, Council is empowered to change the fiscal year when modification of statutory provisions permits it and the problem of changing the taxing period has been thoroughly studied.

Philadelphia Home Rule Charter § 8-101 Payment of Moneys Out of the City Treasury.

§ 8-101. Payment of Moneys Out of the City Treasury. (1) All payments out of the City Treasury shall be by the check of the City Treasurer issued upon order of the Auditing Department. (2) All checks shall be prepared in the office of the City Treasurer, unless the Director of Finance shall by rule otherwise prescribe. (3) The Auditing Department shall issue orders for payments out of the City Treasury only upon requisition of the officer or of the department, board, commission or other agency to which the appropriation was made against which payment is requested. (4) All requisitions shall be prepared in triplicate. One copy shall be retained by the requisitioning officer, department, board, commission or agency, and two copies shall be delivered to the Director of Finance. (5) If the Director of Finance approves a requisition, the Director shall deliver the original to the Auditing Department. 258 (6) If the Auditing Department approves the requisition, it shall issue its order for payment and shall deliver it to the City Treasurer. If it disapproves the requisition, it shall attach a memorandum thereto detailing its objections and return the requisition through the office of the Director of Finance to the requisitioning officer, department, board, commission or agency. ANNOTATION Sources: See Act of June 25, 1919, P.L. 581, Article XI, Section 4, Article XII, Section 3, as amended; the Fiscal Code of 1929, Act of April 9, 1929, P.L. 343, Article XV, as amended. Purposes: 1. The procedure detailed for the payment of moneys out of the City Treasury is intended to prevent improper disbursements and to assure the strictest accountability for such funds as are disbursed. The safeguards provided for include requirements that funds shall be disbursed only by checks of the City Treasurer, only upon proper requisitions approved by the Director of Finance, and only upon approval and the order of the Auditing Department. 2. Flexibility is provided in the procedure for preparing checks so that the most economical and efficient method may be employed under varying circumstances. 3. Requisitions for payment are to originate in the agency having the appropriation against which the payment is to be charged since it should know all the facts justifying the requisition and the state of its funds. 4. Requisitions are to be prepared in triplicate so that the agency requesting payment and the Director of Finance may each have a copy for record and accounting purposes and so that the Auditing Department may have a copy to enable it to approve or disapprove the payment and to submit it to the City Treasurer. 5. The Director of Finance may disapprove a requisition if it fails to conform to current budgeting orders or if appropriations are unavailable to meet it. See Section 6-106. Approval of the Auditing Department is required to determine if the requisition is for a purpose comprehended by the appropriation against which it is drawn, in a proper amount and the amount stated is justly due. See Sections 6-400 and 6-402. Notes 258 | The phrase "he shall deliver the original" was changed by the Code editor to read "the Director shall deliver the original" to be gender neutral consistent with the broad Charter change set forth in the May 17, 2022 referendum. See Bill No. 220001 (approved February 25, 2022); Resolution No. 220009 (adopted February 24, 2022).

Philadelphia Home Rule Charter § 8-102 Estimates of Current Expenditures by Departments, Boards and Commissions.

§ 8-102. Estimates of Current Expenditures by Departments, Boards and Commissions. In order to enable the Mayor to avoid deficits and to check on performance, each officer, department, board and commission of the City, or other agency receiving a City appropriation shall from time to time as requested by the Mayor prepare and submit to the Mayor through the Director of Finance for approval or disapproval an estimate of the amount of money required for each activity or function to be carried on by the officer, department, board or commission during the ensuing month, quarter or such other period of the current fiscal year as the Mayor shall prescribe. If such estimate does not meet with the approval of the Mayor, it shall be revised in accordance with the Mayor's direction and resubmitted for approval; but the Mayor shall not reduce the estimates of the City Council or of the Auditing Department without their consent nor the estimates of the Personnel Director and the Civil Service Commission below one-half of one percent of the amount to be expended for compensation for civil service employees. 259 After the approval of any such estimate, it shall be unlawful for the Director of Finance to approve the expenditure or encumbrance of any appropriation or part thereof except in accordance with such estimate, unless the same be revised with the approval of the Mayor. ANNOTATION Sources: The Administrative Code of 1929, Act of April 9, 1929, P.L. 177, Section 604, as amended. Purposes: 1. Although certain appropriations may have been made to various officers and agencies, the Mayor may order, with exceptions noted hereafter, that the full amount of an authorized appropriation shall not be expended. Such an order would be appropriate if it should appear that revenues will not equal expenditures. To enable the Mayor to decide when an order reducing expenditures is necessary, officers and agencies are required to submit, when requested, estimates of proposed expenditures for stated future periods. The City Council and the Auditing Department are excepted from any order reducing expenditures unless they agree to such an order. See Annotation to Section 2-300. Estimates of the Personnel Director and Civil Service Commission may not be reduced below one-half of one percent of funds to be expended for compensation to civil service employees (see Annotation to Section 2-300), but since an order reducing expenditures of other offices and agencies may reduce the total amount of such compensation, the minimum assured to the Director and Commission may be reduced proportionately. 2. Orders of the Mayor are made enforceable by prohibiting the Director of Finance from approving requisitions which do not conform with such orders. See Sections 6-106 and 8-101. Notes 259 | Amended by approval of the voters at the election held on May 17, 2022, and certified on June 6, 2022. See Bill No. 220001 (approved February 25, 2022); Resolution No. 220009 (adopted February 24, 2022).

Philadelphia Home Rule Charter § 8-103 Duty to Respond to Requests for Budgetary Information.

§ 8-103. Duty to Respond to Requests for Budgetary Information. It shall be the duty of the chief clerk of Council and of each officer or department and each independent board and commission of the City and every other agency of any kind desiring appropriations from the Council promptly to comply with any and all requests made by the Director of Finance for information dealing with the next annual operating budget or with prospective operating budget revisions for the unexpired portion of the current fiscal year; and it shall be the duty of each departmental board and commission promptly to furnish to the head of the department with which it is connected such information as may be requested by the head of the department for the departmental budget estimates. ANNOTATION Sources: The Administrative Code of 1929, Act of April 9, 1929, P.L. 177, Section 606. Purposes: This section is necessary to enable the Director of Finance to prepare the annual operating budget for the Mayor. See Section 6-105.

Philadelphia Home Rule Charter § 8-104 List of Employees to be Furnished to Certain City Officers.

§ 8-104. List of Employees to be Furnished to Certain City Officers. Each department, board and commission of the City and every other agency receiving an appropriation from the City Treasury shall, on the fifteenth day of June of each year, transmit to the City Controller, the Director of Finance, and the Personnel Director a complete list, as of June first preceding, of the names of all of its officers and employees entitled to receive compensation from the City Treasury for services rendered in or to the department, board or commission, or agency as the case may be. Such list shall show the position occupied by each such person, the date of birth and residence of such person, the salary at which or other basis upon which such person is entitled to be paid, the date when such person entered the service of the department, board, commission or agency, whether such person has been continuously employed by it since that date, and all periods of service and positions held for which compensation has been paid out of the City Treasury, or such additional information as the Mayor may prescribe. Each month thereafter the heads of the several departments, boards and commissions, and the several agencies shall certify to the City Controller, the Director of Finance and the Personnel Director any changes in the annual list of employees last transmitted to them which shall have occurred during the preceding month. ANNOTATION Sources: The Administrative Code of 1929, Act of April 9, 1929, P.L. 177, Section 603. Purposes: Personnel information required from each agency receiving any appropriation from the City Treasury will enable the Personnel Director to maintain his personnel records (see Section 7-100), will be necessary for payroll payments (see Sections 6-106, 6-301, 6-400 and 8-101), will facilitate checking on compliance with civil service requirements (see Section 7-302), and will aid budgeting and accounting (see Sections 6-101, 6-105 and 8-102).

Philadelphia Home Rule Charter § 8-105 Custody of City Securities.

§ 8-105. Custody of City Securities. Securities owned or held by the City, including uncancelled obligations of the City, may be kept either in City vaults or in safes or safety deposit boxes in banking institutions, or may with the approval of the Council be delivered to and held by banking institutions as custodians. The City Treasurer or the Treasurer's designated deputy acting jointly with the City Controller or the Controller's designated deputy shall have sole access to such safes or safety deposit boxes but such access shall always be in the presence of an appropriate official of the banking institution. The City Treasurer shall furnish monthly to the Director of Finance a list of all City securities and their place of safekeeping. ANNOTATION Sources: No specific source. Purposes: The City owns many valuable securities and this section makes provision for their safekeeping an for the accounting for them. Notes 260 | Amended by approval of the voters at the election held on May 17, 2022, and certified on June 6, 2022. See Bill No. 220001 (approved February 25, 2022); Resolution No. 220009 (adopted February 24, 2022).

Philadelphia Home Rule Charter § 8-106 Expenses.

§ 8-106. Expenses. Subject to the rules of the Administrative Board, the heads of departments, the members of all boards and commissions, all administrative officers and all persons employed under the provisions of this charter shall be entitled to receive their traveling and other necessary expenses actually incurred in the performance of their public duties on requisition of the appropriate officer, department head, or chairman or president of a board or commission, but in the case of departmental boards and commissions, such requisitions shall be subject to the approval of the department with which such boards or commissions are respectively connected. ANNOTATION Sources: The Administrative Code of 1929, Act of April 9, 1929, P.L. 177, Section 216. Purposes: Officers and employees are entitled to traveling and other necessary expenses actually incurred in the performance of their public duties but to prevent abuses the Administrative Board is to promulgate rules governing the circumstances under which such payments are to be made. See Section 4-300(3)(a).

Philadelphia Home Rule Charter § 8-107 Compensation for Extra Services.

§ 8-107. Compensation for Extra Services. No additional compensation for extra services shall be paid to any officers or employees unless such payment is expressly authorized in the case of civil service employees by the pay plan and in all other instances by the Administrative Board prior to the rendering of such services and such authorization is certified to the City Controller. ANNOTATION Sources: The Administrative Code of 1929, Act of April 9, 1929, P.L. 177, Section 215. Purposes: Additional compensation for extra services has been known to be resorted to at times to increase the compensation of officers and employees when in fact there is no need for extra services. To prevent such abuses, additional compensation must be authorized by the pay plan in the case of civil service employees and in all other cases by the Administrative Board before the services are rendered. Authorization must be certified to the City Controller as a further check. See Annotation to Section 4-300(1)(d).

Philadelphia Home Rule Charter § 8-108 Indemnification and Defense of Registered Community Organizations.

§ 8-108. Indemnification and Defense of Registered Community Organizations. The City shall provide for the defense and indemnification of any registered community organization that is in compliance with the Philadelphia Zoning Code and applicable regulations, in connection with any claim brought against such an organization arising directly out of the organization’s lawful participation in the City’s zoning variance process. The Law Department is authorized to adopt regulations to implement this section, including to establish indemnity limits, rules for addressing double indemnity, providing for the purchase of insurance through a grant or similar program, and other measures to protect the best interests of the City. _______________ Notes 260.1 | Added by approval of the voters at the election held on April 23, 2024, and certified on May 13, 2024. See Bill No. 230740 (became law December 14, 2023); Resolution No. 230750 (adopted November 30, 2023). See Charter subsection A-200(27) for effective date.

Source: City of Philadelphia, The Philadelphia Code and Home Rule Charter (American Legal Publishing, codelibrary.amlegal.com)URL: https://codelibrary.amlegal.com/codes/philadelphia/latest/philadelphia_pa/0-0-0-265661Fetched: 10/27/2026