By any standard, it was a thumping – 68 to 32 percent. And it is a welcome signal that Allegheny County voters continue to respect the original intent (in 1998) when another iteration of voters adopted a home rule charter to create (beginning in 2000) a government led by a strong chief executive and a part-time, advisory “citizen legislature.”
On Tuesday, voters overwhelmingly rejected a charter amendment that would have allowed the 15-member County Council to, per some of its backers, become a more “co-equal branch” of government – allowing it to push (through another ballot issue that was removed from this election cycle) for the use of more taxpayer dollars to hire additional staff, open district offices and receive health and pension benefits.
The county Government Review Commission, citing serious financial challenges, recommended a “No” vote.
And for the county electorate, the question proved to be a heaping cup of gone-bad cod liver oil on top of a rancid 36-percent property tax increase last year and the oxidized bitterness of this year’s County Council-passed parental leave program.
And, lest we forget, there’s also that critically underfunded pension system for county workers and growing talk of pols to possibly seek legislative approval to raise the local sales tax by a percentage point to 8 percent.
There certainly was no “Thank you, sir, may I have another?!” here on Tuesday. Or, put another way, thumpity-thump-thump, thumpity-thump-thump, look at County Council’s power grab slowed.
Colin McNickle is communication and marketing director at the Allegheny Institute for Public Policy (cmcnickle@alleghenyinstitute.org).
