In Friday’s blog entry we described the slow-going process of getting the City onto an integrated financial platform with the County and the oversight board’s decision to impose sanctions if something was not done.
The Act 47 team had a firm deadline (12/31/09) that was ignored; a subsequent search turned up a press release from the County Controller’s office dated September 8, 2010 that stated "time limits on budgetary processes for both the city and county make it necessary for the City of Pittsburgh to sign the agreement with Allegheny County by September 20 [2010]. The county initially presented its proposal to the City of Pittsburgh in March 2010 and subsequently adjusted the agreement to meet needs submitted by the city in discussions".
City Council plans to hold a post-agenda session on Wednesday discussing "…the status of enterprise resource planning (ERP)". Among the seven guests invited to the session are the Act 47 coordinator and the County Controller, along with the head of the oversight board. That’s nearly half of the meeting attendees who have attempted to either place a firm deadline on the City moving forward with the system or threatened to take punitive actions if the process is not completed.
What are taxpayers supposed to think with yet another episode in which their local governments deliberately avoid taking a specific action or carrying out a specific function, especially one that seems to be directed toward saving some money?
