Gainey says his budget proposal would improve Pittsburgh’s core services, make city safer
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Pittsburgh Mayor Ed Gainey said in his annual budget address Monday that his administration is focused on trying to improve core city services and making the city safer and more welcoming for residents.
The mayor’s proposed budget for 2024 includes no tax increase and no cuts for staffing or “critical spending,” said Jake Pawlak, director of the Office of Management and Budget.
Gainey said budget includes investments in core city services such as repairing infrastructure, improving street safety and bolstering affordable housing.
He touted a 300% increase in investment in city-owned bridge maintenance and repairs. The mayor vowed to make Pittsburgh’s bridges safer after the Fern Hollow Bridge collapsed in the city’s Frick Park within the first few weeks of his administration. A comprehensive bridge report highlighted the need for repairs at dozens of spans citywide.
The proposed capital budget designates more than $86.4 million to engineering and construction projects, including more than a dozen bridge projects.
Gainey said the city is working to catch up on its backlog of existing projects and fill funding gaps in projects that were already in the pipeline before adding new projects to the list.
Pawlak acknowledged that the city’s finances are projected to be tight in the coming years as federal American Rescue Plan Act funding dries up. He said officials will need to be cautious with spending over the next few years, but the city’s fiscal position looks more positive after existing debt expires in 2026.
“We’re confident that we’ve adequately prepared for those circumstances,” Pawlak said. “We do not project a structural deficit or even shortfall.”
Gainey said the proposed budget increases funding for traffic calming projects by 136% and provides money for two new staff positions to help manage traffic calming initiatives.
“We have seen too many of our residents lose their lives in traffic-related accidents,” the mayor said. “All these deaths are preventable.”
The budget includes 20 new positions for the Office of Community Health and Safety, including expanding initiatives in that office that launched as smaller pilot programs. That includes 11 new workers for the ROOTS — or Reaching Out on the Streets — initiative, which Pawlak described as an “enormous success” in helping with homeless outreach.
OCHS has responded to more than 3,000 incidents citywide since its 2021 launch, officials said earlier this month.
Gainey said the office plans to expand its co-response program, in which social workers assist police in responding to various calls. The program is now largely limited to North Side and Downtown, but the mayor wants to expand it citywide.
The budget includes a dozen new civilian community service aide positions for the Pittsburgh Bureau of Police. The idea, Pawlak said, is for these aides to handle nonemergency situations so they “can free up the time and energy of our sworn officers who are charged with responding to emergency calls.”
“I promised you we would start moving more police into the streets,” Gainey said.
The budget calls for a total of 850 uniformed police officers. That’s down from the 900 the bureau was budgeted for this year, but more than it currently has.
Pawlak said the goal is to ultimately get back to the 900 mark, which officials estimate could happen by 2027. Based on plans to bring on new police recruit classes and estimates of how many officers are likely to retire, Pawlak said the city should be able to reach 850 officers by the end of 2024.
“It didn’t make sense to budget for 50 officers we knew we wouldn’t have in this budget year and leave those funds stranded,” he said.
Despite police being below budgeted levels, Gainey applauded the bureau’s work to decrease violent crimes. The major crimes unit cleared over 80% of homicides in the city so far this year, and homicides are down citywide, Gainey said. A public safety spokesperson confirmed a more than 20% reduction in homicides so far this year as of October.
The mayor also touted plans for 15 new Department of Public Works Bureau of Environmental Services workers to improve garbage collection, added funding for a pilot program that allows the city to repair residential sidewalks at a lower cost and the rollout of a $3 million food justice fund.
Gainey highlighted additional investments for affordable housing through a $50 million federal grant for the Bedford Dwellings project in the city’s Hill District and a multimillion-dollar bond for the Urban Redevelopment Authority’s housing programs.
City Council plans to discuss the proposed budget starting when it holds a budget overview Tuesday afternoon. A final budget must be adopted by the end of the year.
Council President Theresa Kail-Smith, D-West End, said she liked Gainey’s plan to restore an in-person permitting counter for the Department of Permits, Licenses and Inspections, something the city hasn’t offered since the covid-19 pandemic struck.
She also credited the mayor’s budget proposal for including investments in the city’s youth, including a paid internship program and money for recreation centers. Such investments, she said, are part of “making sure the youth are engaged and on a positive trajectory.”
Kail-Smith said she did have some concerns about the “very tight” financial margins the city is expected to see as federal American Rescue Plan Act funds run out — particularly between now and 2026, when some existing debt expires.
She said she is working with the council budget office to find ways to address those issues. Officials are not considering a tax increase, she said.
Additional concerns and questions will be addressed during upcoming budget hearings, she said.
The mayor said he felt his administration has accomplished plenty since he took office nearly two years ago.
Investments in the city’s recreation centers allowed the city to extend hours at Phillips and Ammon recreation centers, resulting in about 2,000 visitors from July through September, Gainey said. Families soon “will be able to connect with social workers and other resources” at those facilities, he said.
The city last summer opened 15 pools — the most the city has opened since the covid-19 pandemic — and saw 125,000 residents visit them, Gainey said.
He highlighted the city’s work to expand accelerated review processes in the Department of Permits, Licenses and Inspections, cut red tape in the zoning code to make it easier for small childcare facilities to operate and invest in clean energy.
A new cooperation agreement with the city’s land bank and URA should make it easier to clear properties and “more effectively facilitate neighborhood development” reduce blight, Gainey said. Already, the URA has transferred 17 properties to the land bank. Those properties are slated to be transformed into urban gardens, affordable housing projects and other uses.
The city so far this year sold 96 city-owned properties, and an additional 101 sales are pending, Gainey said. That’s nearly double the number of properties the city sold in 2022, he said.
Gainey highlighted his administration’s efforts to reduce barriers for people to get city jobs. The city nixed college credit requirements for police recruits and a requirement that crossing guards have a driver’s license.
He touted efforts to challenge the tax-exempt status of properties throughout the city that may not actually operate as nonprofits. The city already has brought in some new revenue from the effort after challenging 26 properties so far, he said.
“We won’t stop until everyone who should be is paying their fair share to our great city,” the mayor said.
Related:
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