Task force on Pittsburgh’s finances aimed to ensure ‘continued financial strength,’ officials say

PITTSBURGH — To ensure that the City of Pittsburgh is making responsible fiscal decisions, Mayor Gainey announced the formation of a financial task force.

“We want to bring together the financial leaders to look at one common set of numbers, discuss them, understand them, and make sure we are in agreement around the data itself,” Deputy Mayor Jake Pawlak said.

Channel 11 sat down with Deputy Mayor Jake Pawlak shortly after Mayor Gainey announced the task force.

According to Pawlak, he and other financial leaders examined first quarter revenue data, and anticipates that the city’s spending will be under budget by the end of the year.

His assessment comes after City Controller Rachael Heisler sent a letter to Mayor Gainey a month ago, and encouraged the city to re-open the 2024 budget to amend revenue expectations.

“It’s our desire to work collectively with all branches of government in figuring out how we respond appropriately to what that data shows, which again is positive, and not as significant of a challenge as the controller has made in some of her public comments,” he added.

Heisler projected that millions of dollars would be lost in property taxes due to vacant buildings downtown, and a court injunction that stopped the city from collecting taxes for athletes or performers who play at city venues, and don’t live in the city. Plus, she had financial concerns over the American Rescue Fund running out.

Today, she responded to the new task force, in part by saying, “With revenues and expenditures uncertain, we will be facing challenging times in the next several years if we do not act now.”

“I can only tell you what the revenue we’ve collected so far this year tells me, which is we are on pace for the year, and we have collected more in some of the most significant categories than we have the same date a year ago,” Pawlak added.

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