Pittsburgh City Council voted to approve a nearly $845 million spending plan for 2024, with little to no discussion Monday. Though the budget remains largely unchanged from Mayor Ed Gainey’s proposal issued a month ago, the final version reflects a $2.3 million increase over his initial plan.
Gainey's office issued a statement Monday thanking council for passing the budget.
"These long-term investments into the future of our city are critical for our vision for Pittsburgh," Gainey said in the statement. "I look forward to working with City Council in the new year on implementing this bold vision."
The revised plan comprises a $686 million operating budget and a $158.6 million capital budget. It does not call for a tax increase.
Among the changes council finalized is a 7% pay raise for all council members, which is more than double the 3% increase proposed by the mayor last month. The change brings council salaries from $81,137 to $86,970 in 2024. Council members also approved raises for several staff members and the City Clerk’s office.
Members seemed eager to fend off any criticism when discussing the raise last week, with council solicitor Daniel Friedson laying out a defense for it.
“This is just trying to get caught up on the cost-of-living omissions that did diminish your salary for 13 straight years,” Friedson said last week. Council members earn less than "any other director or any other elected official," he added.
According to City Council budget director Peter McDevitt, the 7% increase was the average amount of raises that all city employees — union and non-union combined — received in 2023.
Council voted largely in lockstep on budget items Monday. However, there was less-than-unanimous support for several public safety measures. Those included a decrease in the number of budgeted police officer positions from 900 to 850, as well as a spending plan for the city’s “Stop the Violence” grant fund.
Though the city has previously budgeted for 900 police positions, a well-documented staff retention issue has shrunk the force to below 800 this year. Given that, and the fact that no one expects staffing numbers to rebound fully in 2024, the budgetary change by itself won't have an impact on force strength. And the Gainey administration has defended the lower police staff number as a way to make use of salary money that would otherwise go unspent.
Council President Theresa Kail Smith and Anthony Coghill both voted against the police budget change. And they joined with Councilor Deb Gross to vote against a spending plan for money in the “Stop the Violence” trust fund revenue.
Smith has complained of a lack of progress in the anti-violence efforts funded by the program. In recent weeks she has led an effort to close other trust funds, in which deposited revenues are earmarked for certain needs. Council voted to close six such funds Monday.
Despite those dissenting votes on Monday, all parts of the budget passed.
And the city's overall budget plan remains largely unchanged from Gainey's original proposal, with a focus on infrastructure investment and reorganizing the police department.
As Gainey initially proposed, the 2024 plan calls for a 300% increase in spending for bridge maintenance and repairs over the current year, as well as a 136% increase in funding for traffic-calming measures.
Elsewhere, the city would launch a new team of "community service aides" within the police bureau to respond to low-level service calls, freeing up police officers for more urgent matters.
As for the city’s capital budget, Gainey’s original vision did not include new projects — a strategy the mayor characterized as financially prudent.
“Next year we'll embark on a focused sprint on completing these projects we have underway before adding additional projects,” Gainey pledged during his budget address last month.
But council’s new $158.6 million capital budget includes some new initiatives: an additional $400,000 for an upgrade at Marmaduke Park in Pittsburgh’s Brighton Heights neighborhood; a $500,000 economic development plan for the city’s East End Neighborhood; and another $78,000 to invest in the city’s vehicle fleet.
Council also reallocated $1.35 million originally intended for a public safety training facility and Homewood Park upgrades. That money will instead cover the cost of upgrading and repairing three elevators inside the City-County Building.
Though council approved the city’s 2024 spending plan Monday, one part of the budget process remains to be completed. Members must still vote on the city’s new fee schedule, which sets rates for permits and facilities rentals in 2024.
