Mayor Ed Gainey, center, takes the podium surrounded by elected officials to answer questions about challenging the tax-exempt status of 26 Pittsburgh properties in a press conference at his office on Tuesday, March 28, 2023, in the City-County Building in Downtown. The push is part of a new legal strategy to root out tax-exempt properties in Pittsburgh that shouldn’t qualify for exemption under Pennsylvania law. (Photo by Stephanie Strasburg/PublicSource)
The move is just a fraction of the mayor’s long-term goal, but the results could have major implication for the city and its nonprofits.
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Mayor Ed Gainey will challenge the tax-exempt status of 26 Pittsburgh properties, he said Tuesday, as part of a new legal strategy to address a longtime problem. The list — including a handful of properties owned by UPMC — is the first piece of follow-through on a plan he unveiled in January to root out tax-exempt properties in Pittsburgh that shouldn’t qualify for exemption under Pennsylvania law.
The plan is at once Gainey’s biggest initiative to bolster the city’s finances and to extract greater support from UPMC. Gainey ran for office promising to make the healthcare giant pay “its fair share,” and city officials have warned that the city’s revenue will need a boost ahead of the end of federal pandemic relief funds next year.
“We are here to protect the taxpayers and make sure that everybody is paying their fair share,” the mayor said at a morning press conference.
The city is challenging the exemptions on six properties affiliated with UPMC, two owned by Carnegie Mellon University, one by the University of Pittsburgh, one by Allegheny General Hospital and a handful of others held by smaller nonprofit entities or private citizens.
A representative for UPMC did not immediately respond to a request for comment. PublicSource reached out to other nonprofits but did not receive immediate comment.
Gainey said the list is the result of his staff examining 10% of the city’s tax-exempt property not owned by government or churches. There are around 17,600 tax-exempt parcels within the city.
Gainey’s challenges will be reviewed by the Allegheny County Board of Property Assessment Appeals and Review [BPAAR]. The board’s review process could take from six to nine months, according to its solicitor, David Montgomery. Either the city or the property owner can appeal the board’s decision to the Court of Common Pleas, a process Montgomery said could take a year itself, and the loser there could appeal to the Commonwealth Court.
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