Mayor O’Connor’s administration introduces revised budget after reports of Pittsburgh deficit

PITTSBURGH — The city is one step closer to a revised budget that will have a big impact on Pittsburgh residents.

Officials reported that a massive shortfall forced city leaders to take another look at the budget.

Chief Investigator Rick Earle has been following the process and City Controller Rachael Heisler told him this is a step in the right direction.

In fact, she’s more optimistic now than she’s been in some time.

Mayor Corey O’Connor’s administration resubmitted that new budget proposal.

The controller says she’s satisfied that it now addresses the holes in the previous budget.

Two weeks after revealing a nearly $40 million budget shortfall that prompted a reopening of the 2026 budget, Mayor Corey O’Connor sent a new budget proposal to the city council today.

The mayor is now recommending $28 million in new expenditures to cover items he says were either not funded at all or underfunded by the previous administration, including healthcare payments, fleet repair costs and bridge maintenance.

Controller Rachael Heisler, who sounded the alarm for two years, says those items were left out of the budget.

Heisler: They were excluded.

Earle: How do you explain that?

Heisler: The budget that was passed in December of last year, and that was presented by the previous administration, I believe, intentionally deflated revenues to get to balance.

In published reports, Jake Pawlak, the budget director under Mayor Ed Gainey, disagrees with the controller, arguing that he presented a responsible budget that relied on money from city trust funds.

Earle: Your reaction to that?

Heisler: I disagree.

Earle: You disagree with what he’s saying. You’re clear there were miscalculations and omissions in his budget?

Heisler: Yes.

To deal with declining revenue and rising expenses, the council in December passed a property tax hike that will generate nearly 28 million dollars...and Mayor O’Connor has already convinced UPMC and PNC Bank to donate millions for new ambulances and snow plows and he’s also now working to increase tax revenue by growing the city.

“I’m glad that the new administration is taking the city’s financial terms to concerns to heart, and seems well-positioned to address them head-on,” Heisler said.

Mayor O’Connor says he’s hoping for even more donations from the big non-profits and other businesses to help the struggling city.

Council members will now go over the proposed budget amendments line by line and vote on the changes.

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