The 2015 budget for the city of Pittsburgh still needs to have a few more numbers plugged in before City Council can approve it, but the New Year could mean higher property taxes and higher parking rates.
The mayor has outlined a $508 million operating budget and a $76.6 million capital budget for 2015. It calls for $4.5 million in additional property tax income and another $5 million in earned income taxes.
Millage rates were cut in 2013 to avoid violation of the state’s anti-windfall provisions but the rate was set before the city received final assessments from the county.
“It was cut too much too early,” Kevin Acklin, chief of staff, said.
Now the Peduto administration is hoping to make up the $35 million in tax revenue lost last year.
“It is a modest restoration to that tax cut, similar to the other taxing bodies that have done this, it was cut too much too early, and now that the adjustment number had come in, we’re looking to restore that.” Kevin Acklin said.
The 2015 budget also calls for the Pittsburgh Parking Authority to send more to the city’s operating budget, which is expected to result in higher rates and tighter enforcement.
Peduto’s spending plan also calls for some sweeping changes to the city’s management structure. His plan calls for moving duties among various departments and shifting budgets and employees to go with the changes. The goal is to streamline operations.
With council approval, Peduto plans to move the Bureau of Building Inspection out of the Department of Public Safety into its own agency reporting directly to the mayor. That office would then partner with the office of planning and zoning and the Urban Redevelopment Authority.
In addressing the city council Monday Peduto set a goal of making the city’s operations more transparent and understandable. That starts with a redesign of the Office of Management and Budget Under Director Sam Ashbaugh. Peduto said they department now follows national best practices.
“Now any Pittsburgher for the first time ever can see exactly how their money is being spent. Reading our budget is no longer like reading Sanskrit. Each spending project includes justifications, and operating budget impacts, and it has an unprecedented amount of detail,” said Peduto.
The Peduto administration could have a hard time living up to some of its financial and administrative goals.
“We are doing this while negotiating contracts with seven of our workforce’s nine unions, representing police, firefighters, paramedics, white collar workers, foremen, school crossing guards and recreation center workers,” Peduto said. “We will continue to invest in our most important asset -- our workers -- but we will balance it with fiscal discipline.”
The budget calls for more police to be hired while at the same time shifting to a more community-based policing system.
On the capital side the budget calls for $12 million for street paving, which Peduto said is the most that has been budgeted in that line item in a decade.
The mayor told the council his administration will also work hard I the new year to build more public private partnerships and will look to find more grants from nonprofits.
“Pittsburgh has received over $35 million in grants this year so far,” said Peduto. “And we established a centralized grants office equipped with modern tracking software to help us attract and retain even more dollars to put into neighborhoods.”
