Pennsylvania Statutes Title 53 P.S. Municipal and Quasi-Municipal Corporations § 16994. Borrowing capacity of Philadelphia;  petition to common pleas to determine

Whenever the city of Philadelphia shall have incurred or is about to incur any debt or debts for, and the proceeds thereof shall have been or are about to be invested in, any public improvements of any character, or in the construction, purchase, or condemnation of any public utility, or part thereof or facility therefor, which, either separately or in connection with any other public improvement or public utility, or part thereof, may reasonably be expected to yield revenue in excess of operating expenses sufficient to pay the interest and sinking-fund charges thereon, the city may, at any time and from time to time, present its petition to any of the courts of common pleas of the county in which such city is situated for the purpose of having determined the amount of its debt which may be deducted from its indebtedness in ascertaining the borrowing capacity of the said city as provided in section eight, article nine of the Constitution of the State of Pennsylvania, as amended.  The said petition shall contain an enumeration of any such public improvement or improvements, public utilities, part or parts thereof and facilities therefor, so reasonably to be expected to yield such revenue, the amount of indebtedness which shall have been incurred or is about to be incurred for such public improvement or improvements, public utilities, part or parts thereof and facilities therefor, the average rate of interest and sinking-fund charges payable upon the indebtedness incurred by said city as to each of such improvements, public utilities, part or parts thereof and facilities therefor, and such other facts as may show or tend to show that the operation of the said improvements, public utilities, part or parts thereof and facilities therefor, whether operated separately or in connection with any other public improvement or public utility, or part thereof, may reasonably be expected to yield revenue in excess of operating expenses sufficient to pay the interest and sinking-fund charges thereon, and together with such other information as may be pertinent to the ends of the inquiry.  The petition herein above provided for shall be made and sworn or affirmed to by the mayor, and shall be filed by the city solicitor having first been attested by the city controller and by the head of the department or other branch of the city government having the management of such improvements, as to the matters within their special knowledge or control, respectively.