Colin McNickle Columns category, Page 2

A City of Pittsburgh effort to return properties to the tax rolls by challenging their tax-exempt status is paying dividends. But the research director of the Allegheny Institute for Public Policy says there are better, alternative actions that would bolster the city’s coffers even further. “Government-owned properties are included in...

Difficult decisions await Pittsburgh Public Schools (PPS) in 2024, says the research director of the Allegheny Institute for Public Policy. “PPS is again in a critical situation of its own making,” Eric Montarti says. “Keeping the commonwealth and the school district taxpayers in mind, the PPS board needs to begin...

The cost to operate Pittsburgh Regional Transit (PRT) buses oftentimes exceeds seven other comparison transit agencies in the United States, except New York City, concludes a new analysis by the Allegheny Institute for Public Policy. But in one key metric, and when the cost of living in the respective comparison...

Allegheny County voters go to the polls on Tuesday to choose the first new chief executive (ACE) in 12 years. Over the past year, the Allegheny Institute for Public Policy has made four key recommendations that the incoming ACE must entertain. In 2024, the county government will use the budget...

Despite glowing reports touting increased international passenger counts (even though they remain a shadow of past performance), overall passenger numbers at Pittsburgh International Airport (PIT) remain weak. And weak local jobs numbers appear to be playing a role in that deficit, new research from the Allegheny Institute for Public Policy...

Once again, the great hue and cry in quarters both government and political has become that conducting a property reassessment in Allegheny County would be an immorality bordering on a public policy atrocity that would only serve to gouge taxpayers and even retard economic growth. But the reality is quite...

Private-sector employment in Pennsylvania climbed 2.3% above the pre-pandemic July 2019 level by July 2023. But a researcher at the Allegheny Institute for Public Policy says the commonwealth’s fealty to organized labor is retarding job growth. “The gain was accounted for by … service-sector jobs, especially education and health, professional...

The influx of pandemic-spawned federal stimulus money boosted Pennsylvania general fund revenues in fiscal 2021 and 2022. But it also led to even more government spending, reminds a researcher at the Allegheny Institute for Public Policy. And that’s likely not sustainable. “(T)he state will not be receiving any more pandemic...

Allegheny County voters will elect a new chief executive in November. Whomever is chosen, researchers at the Allegheny Institute for Public Policy say the executive should advocate for benchmarking the county’s performance against those nationwide. “Establishing and maintaining a benchmark peer group of counties should be a priority of the...

The Allegheny County Airport Authority is constructing a new $1.4 billion check-in, ticketing and security terminal at Pittsburgh International Airport (PIT). It is, ostensibly, part of a bid to boost long-flagging passenger numbers at the Findlay Township facility. And while the price tag for the new terminal is almost certain...

Change is in the air with the coming election of a new Allegheny County chief executive in November. And once the new leader takes office in January, he or she can help ensure that change is the operative word to begin fixing the long-out-of-step Pittsburgh Regional Transit, researchers at the...

Legislation introduced in the Pennsylvania Senate that would increase the rate of reduction for the onerous corporate net income tax (CNIT) has the potential to provide a triple benefit for the commonwealth, concludes a new analysis by the Allegheny Institute for Public Policy. It could boost the economy with new...

Pittsburgh’s office vacancy rate grew worse in the first quarter of 2023. And it likely will continue to do so for years, finds a new analysis by the Allegheny Institute for Public Policy. “It doesn’t appear the upward trend is going to change anytime soon,” concludes Frank Gamrat, executive director...

Allegheny County yet again has been maligned for its allegedly dangerous air quality. But this time around, it’s not from the usual suspect, that being the American Lung Association (ALA) and years of misrepresenting local air quality. No, this time it’s the University of Wisconsin, which recently claimed that Allegheny...

Proposed legislation now before the House Transportation Committee in Harrisburg would enable specific counties to enact new taxes, surtaxes and fees to subsidize mass transit and fund transportation infrastructure. But a new analysis by the Allegheny Institute for Public Policy says that as far as Pittsburgh Regional Transit (PRT) is...

The Allegheny County Airport Authority used a misleading comparison to make it appear that passenger and operations numbers at Pittsburgh International Airport (PIT) have improved more than they have, concludes a new analysis by the Allegheny Institute for Public Policy. As it happens, the PIT decline in passengers from February...

Now that the Pennsylvania Commonwealth Court has ruled the Keystone State’s school funding model does not meet the state constitutional standard of equity in education, the obvious question is “What’s next?” Sans a state Supreme Court reversal, “If the Legislature wants to focus on reducing the wide disparities in per...

Pittsburgh’s top-notch Downtown office vacancy rate remained stubbornly high at the end of 2022. And there are serious questions whether it will see much in the way of recovery in 2023. But one possible fix for the shortfall — a deficit pre-dating the coronavirus pandemic and further exacerbated by it...

The race is on for Allegheny County chief executive (ACE). And a number of evergreen public policy issues — some would argue nagging — should dominate the coming debate, concludes an analysis by the Allegheny Institute for Public Policy. “(W)hile aspects of those issues may have changed, over all there...

Mass transit use in Pittsburgh in 2022 continued to lag far behind the pre-pandemic levels of 2019, concludes a new analysis by the Allegheny Institute for Public Policy. And, despite the large shortfalls in recovery for Pittsburgh Regional Transit (PRT) and many other systems, “there is apparently no urgency to...

A City of Pittsburgh perhaps already licking its chops that a review of current tax-exempt properties will yield enough new tax dollars to make up for exhausted federal bailout dollars would be wise to consider looking more inward, concludes a new analysis by the Allegheny Institute for Public Policy. “If...

Immediate steps must be taken to begin reducing the legislatively spawned multibillion-dollar debt of the Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission, concludes a new analysis by the Allegheny Institute for Public Policy. “The state Legislature created this mess and should take steps to remedy the situation,” says Frank Gamrat, executive director of the...

The Allegheny County Airport Authority continues to paint a rosy picture of rebounding passenger traffic at Pittsburgh International Airport. “PIT travel roars back,” part of a headline blared recently on the authority’s website. But an analysis of the latest publicly available numbers — for November 2022 — shows the Findlay...

Moving forward this year with a plan shelved two years ago to close six Pittsburgh Public Schools (PPS) buildings is imperative for the district to reduce its expenses for the benefit of taxpayers, concludes a new analysis by the Allegheny Institute for Public Policy. “Those closures were part of a...

Remedying the gross disparities in academic performance among Pennsylvania’s 634 public high schools is not a matter of throwing more money at the problem but one of returning foundational precepts to the educational process, concludes a new analysis by the Allegheny Institute for Public Policy. “What is needed is commitment...