Pittsburgh’s Intergovernmental Cooperation Authority for Cities of the Second Class met on Friday to address the resubmission of Pittsburgh’s proposed 2015 budgets and corresponding five-year plan.
They unanimously approved the $516.6 million operating budget and $76.6 million capital plan.
In a release sent to media, Mayor Peduto’s office announced there will not be a rental registration fee on landlords next year. The mayor’s office had proposed a $65 per unit fee for rental property owners that they estimated would make $1.62 million in revenue in 2015. The plan is to make this fee permanent in 2016.
Earlier in the year, the city had submitted a budget that the ICA disapproved and gave the city an opportunity to resubmit a budget.
“The city resubmitted a budget, we had some additional questions and concerns about costs, they then gave us assurances in writing that they would meet the conditions set by the ICA,” said Henry Sciortino, executive director of the ICA.
As usual, pensions were a point of contention. It's one of the major reasons the city experienced financial problems in the early 2000s. The ICA had concerns about legacy costs.
“The mayor's office made a submission, we made some conditional discussion items with it and they’ve met those conditions to meet the amount of money that’s flowing out to pension members," Sciortino said. "That number is 86.4 million and the city has agreed that they’ll pay that amount out to the pensioners."
The ICA’s role as the city’s financial oversight board was created in 2004.
