Pittsburgh has about five months to spend what remains of its federal coronavirus aid package. City Council preliminarily approved a proposal from the Gainey administration that moves money from some delayed construction projects into street paving, demolition and a mobile restroom project.
The city received $335 million from the federal American Rescue Plan Act, which President Joe Biden and Congress passed to help cushion the blow to local government from the coronavirus pandemic. City financial analysts have credited the federal aid for keeping Pittsburgh afloat over the last several years. The money has also been used to launch a bridge management program.
The city has already reworked its pandemic aid spending plan several times since the aid became available in 2021. But as the deadline to spend those funds draws near, the stakes for reworking the spending plan get higher: Any money left unspent by the end of 2024 must be given back to the federal government.
Despite those stakes, City Council preliminarily passed a reallocation plan proposed by Mayor Ed Gainey's administration Wednesday, and did so with no public discussion. Council President Dan Lavelle held a public hearing on the changes Tuesday, as is required, but no other council members attended that meeting, nor did any members of the public.
While the rest of council moved forward with the changes, Councilor Bob Charland abstained from voting, saying he had unanswered questions about the projects losing federal aid support. Other members noted that no explanation for the changes had been provided by the administration prior to the meeting. Charland said he hoped to meet with the mayor’s office in the coming days to understand how the plan was developed.
“I was waiting for an explanation [about] exactly what and why we were moving money,” Charland told WESA. “And until that communication is a priority to the administration, I will not be voting to support a reallocation.”
Charland said the federal aid is a “once-in-a-generation investment in the city, and it’s really important to me that we squander as little of this opportunity as possible.”
The proposed changes rework $8.7 million in aid, redirecting the money away toward projects that are more likely to fall within the timeline set by the federal government, according to the city’s Office of Management and Budget Director Jake Pawlak.
Many of the shifts reallocate money away from projects lagging behind expectations and toward other city services, like paving or other construction projects. But funding has been made available for two new projects.
The first is a $600,000 mobile restroom project that would place “up to 10 mobile restrooms around the city,” according to city documents. Pawlak told WESA this project builds on the city’s previous restroom trailer it manages downtown with the Pittsburgh Downtown Partnership.
The city opened several public bathrooms at parking garages and inside trailers downtown last year to meet the needs of visitors and residents who otherwise would need to patronize a business to find a restroom. Pawlak said the city hopes to explore adding up to three more trailers Downtown and placing six others in busy business districts without public restrooms.
“There’s a need for public restrooms,” Pawlak said, calling the mobile restrooms “valuable as one of the many and multifaceted ways that we're addressing the needs of people downtown.”
While Pittsburgh has seen a growing population of people experiencing homelessness living Downtown, Pawlak noted that increased restroom availability benefits everyone who lives, works or visits the area.
“When there are events downtown, they see a lot of utilization,” Pawlak said. “But also, they're part of the way in which we are able to manage the needs of unhoused residents with dignity and respect.”
Pawlak said no final decisions have been made about where the four downtown restrooms will be placed, or where the remaining six could be located.
The other new project in the Gainey administration’s proposal involves committing $600,000 toward a yet-to-be created partnership with Allegheny County on lead remediation programs. Pawlak said the city’s internal program will dissolve in favor of a new approach with the county.
The city’s program has been held up in part due to an ongoing legal battle over requirements laid out in a rental registry program. While that fight is ongoing, the city intends to move forward with a reconfigured rental registry later this year. Pawlak said voluntary inspections could begin by the end of this year and the Gainey administration anticipates implementing the full scope of the rental registry by next year. (Though it’s likely that the new rental registry requirements will also end up in court.)
About $3.8 million in federal aid that had supported projects at Thaddeus Stevens School, McKinley Recreation Center and Robert E. Williams will instead be put toward the city’s Public Works facility in the Knoxville neighborhood. Pawlak told WESA that the other three projects will still move forward, but with city dollars.
Those projects will have their budgets “replaced one for one by bond funds,” Pawlak said, noting that construction delays and project scope changes have impacted the timeline for those sites.
Similarly, Pawlak said multiple repair projects at city steps — at Frazier and Downing Streets — and at the Fowler Recreation center may not meet the federal deadline. About $2.7 million that was originally allocated for those projects will instead be funneled into the city’s street paving budget.
Pawlak said that a feasibility analysis of the Fowler Recreation Center could require the city to start from scratch on how to renovate the facility. But he said most projects won’t see any tangible delays due to changing money sources.
“We're simply realigning funding sources to make sure that all of the funds that are allocated for capital projects are spent,” Pawlak said.
City Council is expected to take a final vote on the reallocation plan next week.
