New Philly budget director named: Rebecca Rhynhart

Mayor Nutter on Tuesday named Rebecca Rhynhart the city's new budget director.

He also appointed Maari Porter as recovery officer, which put her in charge of spending stimulus dollars.

Both women already work for the city, Rhynhart as treasurer and Porter as deputy budget director for recovery efforts.

They replace Steve Agostini, who did both jobs but left the administration last week to become chief financial officer at the U.S. Office of Personnel Management in Washington.

Rhynhart will be paid $150,000 and Porter $103,000.

Nutter said that Rhynhart was "the only person I thought about" immediately after learning that Agostini was leaving.

Rhynhart, who headed the tax-exempt group in Bear Stearns' global credit department before joining the city in 2008, said she was looking forward to overseeing the $3.9 billion budget.

Porter was handling many aspects of stimulus spending before this promotion. She started working for the city in February after holding various government jobs in Britain and New Zealand.

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