Local media in Pittsburgh keep reporting that unionized Pittsburgh Regional Transit annual raises of 4 percent, 4 percent, 3.5 percent and 3.5 percent equal a 15 percent raise over the life of a new four-year contract.
That’s incorrect.
You simply cannot add up the respective-year increases.
Why?
Each successive-year increase brings a new, higher base salary. The percentage must be calculated on that each-year higher salary, not the original old salary.
Thus, the percentage increase is not 15 percent but nearly 16 percent — 15.86 percent to be precise.
Do the math.
The Tribune-Review reports that the Allegheny County Government Review Commission has recommended unanimously that residents vote “no” on the Nov. 3 referendum question that would eliminate restrictions preventing Allegheny County Council members from receiving county-funded personal staff, district offices and fringe benefits.
Not that this council ever heeds common sense.
“The commission said that repealing this provision could fundamentally change the structure of County Council, potentially moving it from a part-time legislative body toward a full-time operation with additional staff, offices, benefits and expenses,” the Trib reported.
Or as the commission itself put it:
“The repeal could create new ongoing financial obligations at a time when the county already faces significant fiscal pressures without first establishing their necessity, purpose, or cost. Importantly, the commission believes there are ways to strengthen council without repealing this provision.”
Never mind that such things matter not to County Council, as last week’s approval of a paid parental leave measure proves.
The Post-Gazette reports that an Allegheny County judge has been appointed to oversee a court-ordered countywide reassessment — the first in nearly 15 years — that will be required to be completed by July 2032.
Common Pleas Judge Mary McGinley was named to preside over the reassessment and make sure the process remains on track, the P-G says.
Why?
The county and the Churchill homeowner whose lawsuit led to the court’s reassessment order could not agree on an outside expert overseer.
Let the roller-coaster ride begin.
But we still have a major issue with the mechanics of this reassessment:
The process of reassessing county properties must begin by July 1, 2027 and be fully completed by 2032. No doubt many of the first-to-be-reassessed properties’ values will be wholly out of whack by 2032.
Building in further inequities into the process is no way to fix the process.
Colin McNickle is communications and marketing director at the Allegheny Institute for Public Policy (cmcnickle@alleghenyinstitute.org).
