Pittsburgh council gives preliminary OK to Gainey's 2025 budget

Over the past several weeks, Pittsburgh City Council has questioned whether Mayor Ed Gainey is setting aside too little money in his 2025 proposed budget for major expenses like police overtime.

Members have worried about how Gainey is addressing projected declines in the city’s vital reserve fund. And they’re not sure about how to repair the city’s bridges and maintain an aging vehicle fleet with limited resources.

But in tweaking the mayor’s $665 million spending plan, which council members unanimously supported in a preliminary vote Wednesday ahead of a final vote next week, council steered away from tackling such big-ticket line items.

Instead, members stuck to making relatively minor adjustments.

Councilwoman Barb Warwick, D-Greenfield, for example, suggested cutting the police mounted unit by the end of next year.

While focusing on that expense, council did not challenge Gainey’s budgeted seven-figure decreases in overtime pay for public safety staff, even though some have raised concerns.

The 2025 budget includes $15 million for police overtime — down from the more than $19.5 million the bureau spent last year.

City Controller Rachael Heisler projected the city will spend about $20 million on overtime for police this year.

Peter McDevitt, council’s budget director, has questioned whether Gainey’s proposed overtime costs for public safety personnel were realistic.

The mayor’s office also suggested some budget changes.

In a package of amendments, the administration sought to boost the EMS chief’s salary by nearly $10,000 beyond its initial proposal to more than $155,000.

But the administration also proposed cutting the police chief’s salary by more than $10,000 to nearly $175,000, revoking a prior proposal to bump it up next year.

Rainy day blues

The city’s fund balance, or rainy day fund, is projected to take a heavy hit in the coming years.

By city rules, it must remain at or above 10% of the city’s expenditures. It is projected to drop to about 10.1% in 2029.

McDevitt has said even 10% is not healthy, and the city should aim to keep the balance higher.

“I continue to be concerned about the city’s fiscal health,” Heisler said during a recent hearing with council, raising alarms that the city is set to be “pulling extensively” from the rainy day fund over the next five years.

The fund had over $208 million at the start of this year. By 2029, officials expect it to drop to under $97 million.

“I think it’s important that we make sure we’re not painting this as business as usual,” said Councilman Bob Charland, D-South Side. “That is not sustainable. That is a very bad thing. That is a very scary thing.”

The mayor’s office proposed to add a $573,000 infusion from leftover federal covid-19 relief money to the reserve fund, though much of that money would be spent demolishing Berg Place, a former housing complex that sits in disrepair in the city’s Carrick neighborhood.

A private developer was set to transform it into affordable housing but is delayed amid funding issues, according to Councilman Anthony Coghill, D-Beechview. Coghill added that he is hopeful the city will eventually recoup that money once the developer advances the project.

The city is facing declining revenues, spurred largely by reassessments on Downtown properties whose values have plummeted since the pandemic. Federal relief money is also drying up. Some officials worry the city’s facility usage fee — an extra tax on out-of-town athletes and performers — could be struck down in court.

In response to such financial concerns, Gainey has proposed a 2025 budget that cuts spending by about 3% compared to this year.

But some officials have worried that cuts to public safety overtime, the number of uniformed police officers and legal judgments — which were slashed to barely over $1 million next year from more than $6.8 million this year — are unsustainable.

However, council has not pitched major amendments to ease those concerns.

Bridge to nowhere

As the city faces difficult financial years, some worry about finding the cash for necessary upkeep on essentials like bridges and vehicles.

Department of Mobility and Infrastructure officials said they requested $3.5 million in capital projects more than Gainey’s budget would give them next year.

In the wake of the Fern Hollow Bridge collapse, the city contracted with an outside firm to conduct an analysis of every city bridge. The report showed dozens of spans in serious need of repair and was meant to serve as a roadmap for repairing and maintaining bridges citywide.

But for the second year in a row, said Eric Setzler, the city’s chief engineer, the department won’t get enough cash to do all the work the report recommended.

“I feel like there is a large unmet need,” Setzler told council members last month.

The 2025 budget does not include any money to repair the Panther Hollow Bridge, which officials had to close in October amid safety concerns.

Setzler last month said officials were still finishing an analysis of the bridge, but they were hoping to find money elsewhere to make repairs.

Mike Maloch, the city’s municipal traffic engineer, said the department doesn’t even have enough money to provide matching funds for all of the grants it could seek to help pay for a variety of infrastructure projects.

Heisler and others raised concerns that deferred maintenance on bridges, vehicles and buildings could cause more problems down the line.

Officials for years have called for more investments for the city’s aging vehicle fleet. Officials have reported ambulances breaking down while transporting patients to the hospital and snowy streets left uncleared as plows are being fixed.

During a recent snowfall, only 78% of the city’s plows were operational, Department of Public Works Director Chris Hornstein said.

“Trucks for snow and ice removal continue to be a challenge,” he said.

Where’s Ed?

Gainey skipped out on his own office’s budget hearing.

The heads of each city department and bureau are called before council annually to discuss budgetary matters before council’s vote.

But Gainey made no appearance during the mayor’s office hearing this year.

Chief of Staff Jake Wheatley and Deputy Chief of Staff Felicity Williams appeared for the office. When asked about the mayor’s absence, Wheatley told council he did not believe Gainey’s presence had been requested.

“This is the mayor’s budget hearing,” Councilwoman Theresa Kail-Smith replied. “This is the first time I’ve ever seen a hearing without the mayor here for his budget hearing.”

Olga George, a Gainey spokesperson, initially told TribLive she didn’t believe the mayor had attended budget hearings in the past. But the mayor briefly addressed council during the hearing last year and spoke with members during the hearing the prior year, too.

George claimed to be unable to find evidence Gainey was invited to this year’s meeting, though McDevitt had invited Gainey and other top officials in his office via email.

“It shows his general disrespect of council,” Charland told TribLive. “I wasn’t surprised that he didn’t show up.”