If Allegheny County Chief Executive (ACE) Sara Innamorato wasn’t clear on how County Council feels about her proposal to raise property taxes in the new year by nearly 50 percent, there can be no doubt now.
The Post-Gazette reports that at least 10 members of the 15-member council oppose the eye-popping increase. That’s exactly opposite the 10-members’ support she would need for the council to pass her tax hike.
Innamorato introduced her 2025 budget last month. As the P-G notes, it includes “a 2.2 mill tax increase — raising it from 4.73 mills to 6.93 mills. On a house assessed at $110,400 — that would amount to $182 more per year in property taxes, accounting for an increased homestead exemption. On a property with a taxable value of $770,000, the current proposal would raise taxes each month from roughly $304 to $443.”
“Budget officials have said the county is facing an operating deficit of about $81 million in 2024,” the P-G recounts. “The proposed budget in 2025 indicates a $148 million deficit if no property tax increase occurs.”
But the ACE still doesn’t get it. She has said that it’s incumbent upon County Council members to come up with budget cuts that would forestall some or all the proposed increases.
But other than some relatively minor budgetary trimming, the executive branch has done woefully little to work in concert with the council to pare spending. In fact, the proposed new budget increases spending markedly.
And as the Allegheny Institute has previously noted – in Policy Brief Vol. 24, No. 36 — when benchmarked against peer counties, Allegheny appears to have plenty of room for austerity.
That doesn’t mean the cuts won’t hurt. But cuts must be made. For taxpayers are not a bottomless pit.
With a deadline looming next month for budget finalization, it’s time for the county’s legislative and executive branches to stop posturing and to start paring.
Colin McNickle is communications and marketing director at the Allegheny Institute for Public Policy (cmcnickle@alleghenyinstitute.org).
