City of Pittsburgh Mayor Ed Gainey at his desk in his City-County Building offices in downtown Pittsburgh. (Photo by Stephanie Strasburg/PublicSource)
The city projects stable revenue and spending for 2024 as federal relief funds dwindle.
by Charlie Wolfson, PublicSource
Mayor Ed Gainey released his 2024 budget proposal late Friday, and underneath a routine 3% bump in both revenue and expense are some eye-catching changes, including one in the Bureau of Police.
The budget, which will be adjusted ahead of formal introduction in November and can be further amended by City Council, includes a reduction of 50 uniformed police officers, taking the longstanding quota of 900 down to 850.
Deputy Mayor Jake Pawlak said in an interview that the decreased number does not represent a policy change, but reflects the reality that retirements and recruitment schedules will effectively make 850 the ceiling for the city’s officer count next year. He said the administration intends to work back toward 900 officers, and he expects the city to reach that mark in 2027.
In July, after a consulting firm reported to the city that it should reassign some 200 patrol officers to other roles, Gainey and Police Chief Larry Scirotto said they would do no such thing; Scirotto said he would not eliminate any patrol officer roles.
The true number of officers on the force is below 850 today, as retirements and a recruiting pause during the pandemic have taken a toll. Fraternal Order of Police President Robert Swartzwelder told PublicSource that the force totaled 777 uniformed members last week, not including 27 recruits in the training academy.
The bureau would add 12 civilian roles under the proposal, which the budget terms “Community Service Aides.”
The end result is a police budget slightly below that of 2023.
The city’s full budget proposal, encompassing dozens of departments and more than 3,000 employees, calls for about $683 million in expenses (a 3% increase over 2023) and a surplus of about $30 million at year’s end, factoring in the last of the federal government’s American Rescue Plan Act [ARPA] funds the city received in 2021.
That $30 million net gain in 2024 will sink to just $2.5 million in 2025, according to the city’s projections, reflecting the end of federal relief money and relatively high debt service. But the city projects its debt service to drop in 2027, leading again to a surplus of roughly $30 million.
Much uncertainty lies ahead, with potential major changes to the property tax revenue stream and an ongoing struggle to wring increased contributions from major nonprofits.
City Controller Michael Lamb weighed in on Friday, saying in a letter to Council Finance Chair Daniel Lavelle that while the city’s 2024 revenue forecast is reasonable, the city should “remain vigilant” of coming changes at the county level to the property tax system that could wreak havoc on the city budget.
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