We’ve written a few times about the City’s newest department of Mobility and Infrastructure (created in 2017, here and here) and how it overlapped and took several functions from the existing Department of Public Works on transportation planning. This year’s budget proposes an even bigger transition between departments, with the Department of Mobility and Infrastructure absorbing more positions from Public Works and Planning and growing its department from 4 employees and a $439k budget to one with 73 employees and a near $6 million dollar budget (see pages 321-323 in the 2018 operating budget).
The Department of Public Works currently (in Fiscal Year 2017) has four bureaus: Administration, Operations, Environmental Services, and Transportation/Engineering with 626 employees in all. In terms of full time equivalents, Administration and Environmental Services are remaining largely unchanged in 2018: the former will increase by 2, the latter will decrease by 2. Transportation/Engineering will go from 62 employees to 0, and Operations from 353 to 269. In 2018, a new Bureau of Facilities will be created, with 90 employees. Overall, Public Works will decrease by 56 employees to 570 in 2018.
The City, as well as Allegheny County, have engaged in reorganizations involving their Public Works departments for some time now. Our 2016 report noted how the County once consolidated Public Works with Parks, then separated them, then more recently spun off part of Public Works into a new Department of Facilities Management.
