Allegheny County Executive Rich Fitzgerald introduced his billion-dollar proposed 2024 budget to county council on Tuesday. The fiscal plan totals about $3 billion and would include no increase in the county’s property tax for a 12th consecutive year.
The proposed $1.05 billion operating budget includes a 3.4% increase from the 2023 budget, most of which Fitzgerald said is due to rising personnel costs. While this would be the second time in county history that the government could spend more than $1 billion in operating costs, Fitzgerald said it was a responsible plan.
“I am proud of the fact that this budget, like the other 11, is fiscally sound and helps move this region forward. This budget, like the others, contains no millage increase – i.e., no tax increase – and keeps a healthy ‘rainy day fund’ or fund balance,” he told council.
Fitzgerald said the fund balance will sit at more than $53 million in 2024; when he took office, the county had $5.9 million in the fund.
Having a healthy fund balance “has allowed us to continue serving the public even when we hit fiscal storms, when the rain came down pretty hard,” he said, noting that the money allowed the county to continue operating senior centers and other services during the 2016 state budget impasse and again during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The fiscal plan also includes a $116.3 million capital budget meant to finance longer-term infrastructure and capital improvement projects. That’s a marked increase from 2023’s roughly $84 million capital budget, and in a press release, county officials said the new proposal includes money for “a comprehensive overhaul and improvement to the communication systems used by first responders and other public safety” and improvements to county parks.
Fitzgerald touted his administration’s past work in the parks, noting that the county has provided financial support to establish more than 150 miles of new trails while making improvements to park shelters, pools, and other amenities.
Fitzgerald said that when he took office, 72 of the county’s 305 bridges over eight feet long were rated “poor.” By the end of 2023, he said that number will be down to five, and by 2024, none will be rated “poor.”
“When you think about fixing all those poor rated bridges, it's something that we have a lot to be proud of,” he said.
The proposed $1.87 billion grants and special accounts budget for 2024, which maps out the money the county will receive in human-services and other from federal and state funding, is roughly the same as last year’s.
This budget will be Fitzgerald’s last: After 12 years in office he is term-limited and cannot hold the office again.
The bill was referred to council’s committee on budget and finance. Council will hold two budget hearings next week, during which members of the public can comment on the proposals.
Fitzgerald and council must both sign off on the budgets before the end of the year. But the budgets could change before they’re approved by both council and Fitzgerald. Council members ultimately approved three amendments to the 2023 budget before signing off on it, including money to add a position to the housing court help desk and an increase in funding for the Community College of Allegheny County.
