Moratorium Needed on Calls for a Moratorium
Allegheny County Council is on the verge of taking up legislation that would instruct the Council’s solicitor to ask the courts to halt the reassessment
Christopher Wendt
March 8, 2011
Allegheny County Council is on the verge of taking up legislation that would instruct the Council’s solicitor to ask the courts to halt the reassessment
Economic development in Allegheny County over the last few decades has been driven heavily by government subsidies and directives putting taxpayers-County, state and municipal-in the
Consultants engaged by the Pittsburgh Public Schools at the beginning of 2013 released a finding that the per-pupil cost in Pittsburgh is about $7,000 more than similar districts in Pennsylvania. Reacting to the finding, the Superintendent noted that the school board needs to “…have the facts on the table”.
Is this the year changes come to Allegheny County’s Retirement System, a self-insured defined benefit plan covering more than 7,400 non-uniformed employees, jail guards, deputy sheriffs, and County police officers?
In 2011, the debt per capita in Pittsburgh was $1,901, based on the Census count of 306,000 and $581.8 million in general obligation debt of the City. A decade earlier the average resident carried a much heavier debt load of $2,651. Both the debt and the City’s population were higher in 2001 but debt has fallen faster than population in the intervening years resulting in the per capita debt drop.
Many people keep fairly close tabs on the goings on of the Federal and State governments. However, they often are unaware of what is happening within their own municipality, specifically regarding the amount of spending and revenue collection. Three years ago we launched the first in a series of reports dedicated to examining the expenditure and revenue collections of the municipalities in Allegheny County. This year we update the analysis by looking at the data from 2010-the latest available. This Brief provides a summary of the findings.
Allegheny County Council held a public hearing recently regarding the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, better known as UPMC. Based on the motion passed by Council in November the purpose of the hearing was “…to allow the opportunity for public comment regarding the tax exempt status of property owned by [UPMC] within Allegheny County pursuant to the Institutions of Purely Public Charity Act”.
While the Governor and the General Assembly are engaged in something of a tussle over the two large pension plans covering state employees and public school employees (817,000 active and retired members in total) and who should lead on specifics to reform them, a legislative proposal in Harrisburg to change the retirement system covering Allegheny County’s 7,400 active members has died.
The audited data for Allegheny County’s Retirement System shows that from 2005 until 2011 the system has slipped in health and the County is putting
“It is important to understand that a taxpayer’s tax liability will not necessarily increase when the assessed value of their property increases…One of the common
