Issue Papers

Periodically, PICA Staff create Issue Papers on topics relating to City management and the City’s economy or on issues impacting the City’s finances or performance.  The following are the most recent + past issue papers PICA has released.

Past Issue Papers:

2008-2012

  • Philadelphia Fire Department Study (Report)
  • Pennsylvania Convention Center Expansion Project Financial Impacts for State and City (Report)
  • Consolidating Philadelphia’s Row Offices (Report)

2006-2007

  • Facility Assessment Project (Report)
  • City Budget Behind Bars (Report)
  • Health/Medical Benefits: Burning a Hole in the Budget (Report)
  • Look Before You Leap – The Fiscal Situation that Awaits the Next Mayor (Report)
  • Reversing the Trend of Doing Too Little with Too Much: Maintaining the City’s Infrastructure While Reducing Its Dangerously High Debt Load (Report)

2004-2005

  • An Ounce of Prevention: Managing the Ballooning Liability of Philadelphia’s Pension Fund (Report)
  • From Virtual Realty to Full Value Realty: Preparing for Reassessment (Report)
  • The Crime of Inefficiency: The Cost of Policing Philadelphia (Report)

1998-2000

  • Philadelphia’s Fiscal Challenge: Finding A Way To Save (Report)
  • Good Policy Demands Better Measurement: Philadelphia’s Economic Development Program (Report)
  • Philadelphia Must Reduce Its Need for Tax Revenue (Report)
  • The Adverse Consequences of Philadelphia’s Continuing Population Loss (Report)
  • Caution: Severe Threats to Philadelphia’s Fund Balance Ahead (Report)

1995-1997

  • Court Unification and State-Wide Funding: Future Five-Year Financial Plan, Implications for the City of Philadelphia (Report)
  • Philadelphia Government Costs: Additional Reductions Required (Report)
  • Revenue Stress in the City of Philadelphia (Report)
  • Staff Report on the State Funding of the Department of Human Services (Report)
  • Continuing Economic Decline: A Foreboding Future for Philadelphia (Report)