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Philadelphia budget data visualization

budget.brettmandel.com

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Re: Philadelphia budget data visualization

#41

Post by ChuckMcM »

tg3 wrote: post #34
amalcon wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It also seemed odd to me that so much was under "Finance Department". I'd figured Finance would cover the actual bookkeepers, interest on bonds, and other things related to money in the abstract. From its size that budget must also be "Stuff that doesn't go anywhere else".

In most cities this also covers revenues, aka tax collection. It would be nice to see the breakdown on how much of the budget is dedicated to collecting taxes to fund the budget.

When you drill down you get to the actual entries in the budget that correspond to the particular thing you are looking at.

It was interesting all the Director of Finance salaries of 900K - 1.4M. Seems like a lot of money to pay a civil servant but I may have been misreading the budget item.

I was looking at things like this:

192 FICA TAXES 0192 DIRECTOR OF FINANCE - - - 2012 - $1,369,489.56 PPE 07/10/2011 FICA MATCH CITY OF PHILADELPHIA

Seems to suggest that this director made $1,369,489.56 in compensation.

Re: Philadelphia budget data visualization

#44

Post by pc86 »

leviathant wrote: post #15
jevyjevjevs wrote: post #2

Nice visualization but HOLY CRAP is that normal for the police department suck up so much of a city's budget?

I live about a mile north of City Hall, but I grew up in a small town (pop 3000) in south-central PA. I've been living in Philadelphia for only a few years now, but every single night, I hear sirens, several times a night. And several times a week, I hear helicopters. I'm used to it now, but the police activity is on a level I never could have imagined existed in America when I was living in my tiny little town. Part…

20-25% is about average for non-pension expenditures on police.

It's easy to lose context of just how massive a part of PA Philadelphia is. The city proper alone has more than 10% of the state's population (1.5MM to PA's ~12.7). Add in the other PA counties and you're close to 4. Add in the out-of-state parts of the Metropolitan area and you're quickly closing in on 6.

I've always felt safe when I've been there but given the sheer volume of people, I'd surprised they're not spending a larger amount of police forces.

Re: Philadelphia budget data visualization

#45

Post by rayiner »

smcl wrote: post #22

This is a nice visualisation but it's not clear to me what the purpose of it is - other than the immediate "WOW look how much is spent on Police + Prisons!" that struck me. Or is it simply a "check it out, I know what comprises Philadelphia's budget...". I'm a total outsider so I admit it's entirely likely that this means something to folks living there. But either way it would be nice if there was a little blurb on…

If you had been to Philly recently it would make total sense how much money is spent on police and prisons. They're doing yeoman's work making the city habitable again.

EDIT: No offense to Philly, but it's by a large margin the most dangerous city with more than 1 million people in the U.S. And that danger isn't as segregated as it is in say Chicago or New York, making policing harder.

Re: Philadelphia budget data visualization

#46

Post by rayiner »

jevyjevjevs wrote: post #2

Nice visualization but HOLY CRAP is that normal for the police department suck up so much of a city's budget?

See: http://www.city-data.com/crime/crime-Philadelphia-Pennsylvan...

Every day Philadelphia has about: 1 murder, 2 rapes, 25 robberies, 25 assaults, 35 burglaries, 110 thefts, and 20 stolen cars.

The active police + prison budget seems to be about $850 million. That's about $570 per person to keep 1.5 million people safe in one of the poorest major cities in the country.

Re: Philadelphia budget data visualization

#47

Post by rayiner »

chebucto wrote: post #39

You can see the salaries of individuals, at least within the police dept. Is this normal for US cities? I've seen situations where public servants earning more than a certain threshold (eg 100kpa) had their names & salaries published. Doing so for everyone down to crossing guards seems like an unnecessary breach of privacy.

It's quite common. Chicago just overhauled their website and lists the salary of every single public employee: https://data.cityofchicago.org/Administration-Finance/Curren...

Re: Philadelphia budget data visualization

#48

Post by tylee78 »

rayiner wrote: post #46
jevyjevjevs wrote: post #2

Nice visualization but HOLY CRAP is that normal for the police department suck up so much of a city's budget?

See: http://www.city-data.com/crime/crime-Philadelphia-Pennsylvan... Every day Philadelphia has about: 1 murder, 2 rapes, 25 robberies, 25 assaults, 35 burglaries, 110 thefts, and 20 stolen cars. The active police + prison budget seems to be about $850 million. That's about $570 per person to keep 1.5 million people safe in one of the poorest major cities in the country.

maybe they should increase the 'streets' budget (and not just have 1 company get all the contracts) and then clean up that gigantic pile of trash that the city is. never seen a more filthy city than Philadelphia

Re: Philadelphia budget data visualization

#49

Post by rayiner »

tylee78 wrote: post #48
rayiner wrote: post #46

Earlier quoted context omitted.

See: http://www.city-data.com/crime/crime-Philadelphia-Pennsylvan... Every day Philadelphia has about: 1 murder, 2 rapes, 25 robberies, 25 assaults, 35 burglaries, 110 thefts, and 20 stolen cars. The active police + prison budget seems to be about $850 million. That's about $570 per person to keep 1.5 million people safe in one of the poorest major cities in the country.

maybe they should increase the 'streets' budget (and not just have 1 company get all the contracts) and then clean up that gigantic pile of trash that the city is. never seen a more filthy city than Philadelphia

New York is definitely dirtier than Philadelphia.
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