Pittsburgh council adopts 2021 budget, could be revised depending on federal covid relief

A 2021 Pittsburgh budget adopted by city council Monday is a “stop-gap” plan that is balanced and will need to be revised depending upon whether federal covid relief is ever approved for cities, Councilman R. Daniel Lavelle said.

Although it doesn’t include a 50% cut in funding to the police department, the spending plan represents the city’s response to calls for police reform, increased funding for social services and housing, Lavelle said.

“Residents have spoken loud and clear to council that the budget is a reflection of our moral values… I believe this year’s budget begins to do just that,” he said.

The budget reflects the city’s response to crises including the coronavirus pandemic and its economic impacts, along with the local call for social justice reforms that started with protests over the summer. Dozens of residents spoke up during subsequent council meetings and asked for significant cuts in police funding.

They included a few residents who spoke before the budget vote Monday and dozens who spoke during a two-and-a-half-hour hearing held Saturday.

“I’d like to thank city council for their hard work and support in passing a balanced 2021 budget while our city faces extraordinary financial challenges,” Mayor Bill Peduto said.

He cited the leadership provided by Lavelle, who chairs council’s finance committee, and council President Theresa Kail-Smith, who “managed these challenges to produce a budget that reflects our shared continued commitment to investing in our neighborhoods and the city of Pittsburgh.”

Although it doesn’t have the cuts people asked for, the spending plan moves a $5.3 million Stop the Violence Fund from the police budget to the public safety section of the budget and it includes prevention programs that are part of what people have asked the city to move toward, Lavelle said.

The fund is seed money aimed at establishing programs to prevent crime and creating social services programming so people can get treatment for their problems and avoid the criminal justice system and was spearheaded by Lavelle and Councilman Ricky Burgess as part of a series of police reforms council passed this year.

The budget doesn’t call for layoffs until July. Officials have warned that without about $26 million in federal coronavirus aid that’s yet to be included in a relief package that the city will be forced to cut more than 600 jobs.

It’s a testament to the management of the city that it can avoid layoffs until then, Lavelle said.

Although it’s been adopted, the budget isn’t a finished product and will likely have to be revised if and when federal aid is approved, Lavelle said. If the city has to move forward with the cuts in July, it would be “disastrous,” Public Safety Director Wendell Hissrich has said.

Councilwoman Deb Gross was the lone dissenting voice on the budget. She said it should have funded unfilled positions in departments that regularly interact with residents including Permits, Licenses and Inspections; Planning; Public Works; and Parks and Recreation.

Move than 250,000 meals have been distributed by the Parks and Recreation department and more could have been distributed if there were more staff, Gross said.

She proposed encouraging eligible police officers to retire to cut the police budget and use that money to fill those positions.

The $564 million budget doesn’t increase taxes.