Colin McNickle Columns

“All that glitters is not gold,” goes the aphorism made most famous by William Shakespeare in his “The Merchant of Venice.” And a researcher at the Allegheny Institute for Public Policy says we should keep that phrase in mind when it comes to the claimed economic impact Pittsburgh can expect...

It was four years ago that the Allegheny Institute for Public Policy recommended five actions for the incoming Pittsburgh mayor and City Council. It’s a practice that dates back 20 years. But, unfortunately, many of the 2021 recommendations never saw the light of day. And just as unfortunately, other, worse,...

Much has been made of the City of Pittsburgh’s efforts to discern if certain properties owned by institutions of purely public charity deserve their tax-exempt status. After a review by the city’s departments of Finance and Law, the Allegheny County Office of Property Assessments ordered some of them back on...

After struggling to reach the pre-pandemic passenger counts of 2019 in 2024, the Allegheny County Airport Authority agreed to a $600,000 subsidy for low-cost carrier Frontier Airlines to fly out of Pittsburgh International Airport (PIT). Separately, the state announced a $2 million grant to the county for air transportation improvement....

Chronic absenteeism in Pittsburgh Public Schools remains abysmal, concludes the latest data from watchdog A+ Schools. And the district’s chronic tardiness in addressing the matter has become inexcusable, says a scholar at the Allegheny Institute for Public Policy. “The duty of PPS administrators is to put an end to the...

Allegheny County’s bitter budget battle ended not only with a compromise property tax hike by the Democrat chief executive and majority-Democrat council — a 36% hike instead of a 46.5% increase — but also “a commitment from both the Administration and Council to work together through 2025 to continue to...

What should be done when an expansive and expensive public policy full of economic nonsense and moral hazard is proposed? It should be questioned. “There are many questions that need to be answered before any taxpayer money is doled out,” says Frank Gamrat, executive director of the Allegheny Institute for...

Pittsburgh Public Schools (PPS), long plagued by extraordinarily high spending per pupil but exceptionally weak academic results, also has been bedeviled by a plunging student census that has led to a gross building overcapacity. Allegheny Institute research assistant Alex Sodini says taking action on the latter could go a long...

With Allegheny County Chief Executive Sara Innamorato’s proposed 46.5% property tax increase to fund her 2025 budget an apparent dead letter, some County Council members say it’s time to look for cost savings. And with “austerity” appearing to be the council’s new buzzword — whether that’s for political expediency or...

Converting vacant office space into residential units supposedly has become all the rage in the post-pandemic era, in Pittsburgh and nationwide. But is it, really? And do such conversions make economic sense? That depends, says the president-emeritus of the Allegheny Institute for Public Policy. “There are several potentially serious obstacles...

Pittsburgh compares poorly to a composite of four cities that serve as a performance benchmark, concludes an updated analysis by the Allegheny Institute for Public Policy. “Pittsburgh’s lethargic emergence from the covid-19 pandemic … stood in stark contrast to the impressive recovery and improvement of the benchmark city,” say Eric...

While passenger levels at Pittsburgh International Airport recovered to May 2019 numbers this past May, they continued to lag the national upturn, says a researcher at the Allegheny Institute for Public Policy. “There is no escaping the fact that the strength of local economies is an important driver of air...

Pittsburgh Regional Transit (PRT) could receive millions of dollars more in state funding for its fiscal 2024-25 budget. But scholars at the Allegheny Institute for Public Policy say that would be imprudent. “PRT has been remarkably inefficient in the use of public dollars in comparison to transit agencies in other...

While the administration of Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro is proposing attempting to grow the commonwealth’s economy by giving away taxpayer money, a researcher at the Allegheny Institute for Public Policy says a better plan would be to return money to taxpayers. “Putting money back in the hands of Pennsylvania’s taxpayers...

The City of Pittsburgh is not alone in its struggles with chronically high office vacancy rates. So, too, are Pittsburgh’s suburbs. And the same deleterious domino effect of the pandemic-fueled changed work habits, coupled with a lack of regular property assessments, could lead to the same serious challenges for suburban...

A bill introduced in the Pennsylvania General Assembly would allow all counties except Allegheny and Philadelphia to enact a 1% “local option” sales and use tax. But while the measure has just begun to wend its way through the law-making process, a scholar at the Allegheny Institute for Public Policy...

Pittsburgh cannot thrive without a growing population, concludes an analysis by the Allegheny Institute for Public Policy. “As population falls, so does the number of people available for the labor force,” says Frank Gamrat, executive director the Pittsburgh think tank. “Without a growing and strong labor force, the economy is...

The long-threatened lawsuit by Pittsburgh Public Schools to force Allegheny County to conduct a comprehensive property reassessment came to pass on April 8. And a scholar at the Allegheny Institute for Public Policy says the county should settle the matter without a court order. “The best course is for Allegheny...

“Facts are stubborn things,” Founding Father John Adams reminded. “And whatever may be our wishes, our inclinations, or the dictates of our passion, they cannot alter the state of facts and evidence.” Allegheny County Airport Authority CEO Christina Cassotis would be wise to recall that astute axiom the next time...

Pennsylvania’s gambling revenues reached nearly $5.7 billion by the end of 2023. It’s the highest yearly total to date, up 9.3% from 2022. And taxes on that gambling brought in $2.3 billion in 2023, up 10% from $2.12 billion in 2022. But a researcher at the Allegheny Institute for Public...

Pittsburgh Regional Transit (PRT) would be in line for millions of new dollars in state funding in Gov. Josh Shapiro’s proposed fiscal 2024-25 budget, about $40 million by one estimate. But a scholar at the Allegheny Institute for Public Policy questions if such an increase is prudent. “This is the...

Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro proposed spending tens of millions of dollars in commonwealth reserves during this year’s budget address. He wants to disburse the dollars to bolster spending on everything from economic development efforts, to public transit and public education, the courts forcing his hand on the latter. Shapiro has...

We often have opined about the deleterious effects of no regular property reassessments in Allegheny County for more than a decade. “Fairness” has become but a quaint notion. And the nose-thumbing to the state Constitution’s uniform taxation clause has been a breathtaking embarrassment. But in neighboring Westmoreland County, where there...

There’s a counterintuitive question for Pittsburgh officials in the aftermath of a second straight court ruling that struck as unconstitutional the city’s “jock tax,” says Eric Montarti, research director at the Allegheny Institute for Public Policy: Sans a successful state Supreme Court appeal, where will the city — instead of...

The dominos of government nonfeasance have begun to fall in Pittsburgh and Allegheny County. And the economic fallout could be catastrophic, says a researcher at the Allegheny Institute for Public Policy. “This situation underscores the importance of regular property assessments,” says Frank Gamrat, executive director of the Pittsburgh think tank....