Administration and Finance

The departments that run the city itself: money, taxes, procurement, HR, law, technology.

Articles (21)

• Finance Department — The Office of the Director of Finance, the City of Philadelphia's chief financial office, which runs the budget, accounting, payroll, risk management and oversees Revenue, the Treasurer, OPA and Pensions.
• Revenue Department — The City agency that bills and collects Philadelphia's taxes, water bills and other charges, runs the Philadelphia Tax Center and administers tax and water assistance programs.
• Office of Property Assessment — The City agency that determines the market value of every property in Philadelphia, the base for real estate taxes that fund schools and city services; includes how to appeal a value.
• Board of Revision of Taxes — The independent board that hears appeals of Philadelphia property assessments and certain tax-exemption and abatement disputes after the Office of Property Assessment sets values.
• Procurement Department — The City agency that buys goods, services and public-works construction for Philadelphia government through formal bidding, and the rules vendors must follow to win City contracts.
• Office of Human Resources — The City office that runs civil service hiring, testing, job classification and workforce policy for Philadelphia's roughly 31,000 active municipal employees, under the Civil Service Commission.
• Law Department — The City of Philadelphia's in-house law firm, led by the City Solicitor, which represents the City in court, drafts contracts and legislation, and collects unpaid taxes and fines.
• Office of Innovation and Technology — Philadelphia's central technology agency, responsible for City IT infrastructure, cybersecurity, 311 technology, GIS, digital equity programs and AI governance.
• Chief Administrative Officer — The Mayor's senior official for internal government operations, overseeing HR-related, technology, procurement, records and service-design functions across Philadelphia city government.
• Department of Records — The City agency that records deeds and other land documents as Philadelphia's Recorder of Deeds, runs the City Archives and publishes official records and regulations.
• Department of Public Property — The City department that operates and maintains municipal buildings, manages City leases and real estate planning, and deploys security equipment for large public events.
• Fleet Services — The Department of Fleet Services buys, fuels, repairs and disposes of Philadelphia's roughly 7,000 City vehicles and equipment, from police cars to trash compactors.
• City Treasurer — The City Treasurer's Office safeguards Philadelphia's cash, issues and manages its debt, runs the Sinking Fund Commission and works to maintain the City's credit ratings.
• Board of Pensions and Retirement — The board that runs Philadelphia's municipal pension system and invests its roughly $10 billion fund, which stood at 67.7 percent funded in the latest preliminary valuation.
• Philadelphia City Budget Process — How Philadelphia adopts its annual operating and capital budgets and five-year plan, with the FY2027 budget (a General Fund of about $7 billion) as the worked example.
• Philadelphia Taxes — A guide to the taxes Philadelphia levies, current rates for FY2027, how much each raises, the multi-year wage and business tax cuts, and relief programs for homeowners.
• Pennsylvania Intergovernmental Cooperation Authority (PICA) — The state-created authority formed in 1991 to help Philadelphia out of a fiscal crisis, which reviews and approves the City's Five Year Plan each year.
• Philly311 — Philadelphia's contact center for non-emergency City services and information, reachable by phone, web and mobile app, with interpreters in over 200 languages.
• Open Data and Transparency Tools — A guide to the public data portals, property search, contract listings, financial disclosures and budget documents residents can use to examine how Philadelphia government works.
• Office of Economic Opportunity — The Commerce Department office that certifies minority-, woman- and disabled-owned businesses and monitors their participation in Philadelphia city contracts.
• Commerce Department — Philadelphia's economic development department, which supports small businesses, commercial corridors and large projects and houses the Office of Economic Opportunity.

See also the Department Directory, the full index and the Main Page.