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City Councilman Green Pushing To Revamp Way Philadelphia Reports Spending

By Mike Dunn

PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- A Philadelphia City Councilman says it's time to give a total makeover to the way city reports its billions of dollars in spending.

City Councilman Bill Green says the way Philadelphia government keeps track of its spending is woefully out of date.

"The current level of information required to be provided by the City Charter is 1950s," said Green. "Things aren't (any longer) as simple as personnel and outside contracted service, which is the level of detail we get."

So Green, this past week, introduced a legislative package that includes a proposed Charter Change to move toward what is called program-based budgeting -- which studies results, not just expenditures.

"If we don't have full information, we can't properly make decisions about where to allocate our resources," added Green.

His plan will be debated in a committee hearing, which has yet to be scheduled.

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