State Budget Impass Puts Pittsburghs Financial Recovery On Back Burner

Pittsburgh City Council recently approved a new five year financial recovery plan. Included in the plan is revenue that the city cannot collect unless it can find a way to tax non-profits' payrolls and raise the emergency services tax on those who work in the city. In order to tax those entities, the city needs enabling legislation from the state, but during a budget battle that has seen the state start its fiscal year without a budget the only thing lawmakers in Harrisburg seem to agree on is that Pittsburgh's needs belong on the back burner.

Pittsburgh wants to raise its emergency services tax from its current $52 dollars a year and also tax the payrolls of non-profits. State Representative Mike Turzai of Bradford Woods says that before Pittsburgh raises or creates any taxes it needs to do some work by cutting unneeded agencies and slicing expenditures. Turzai says that it is too early in Pittsburgh's financial recovery for measures such as tax increases.

On the other side of the debate is State Representative Dan Frankel of Squirrel Hill who says that although Pittsburgh has more work to do, most notably in regional consolidation, they should be able to look at ways to generate revenue. Frankel says that Pittsburgh's recovery is not the sole responsibility of the city and the state has a role to play. Frankel believes that there needs to be a predictable way to asses how revenue will flow into the city, whether it is from commuters or non-profits.

On Monday, Pittsburgh Mayor Luke Ravenstahl was in Harrisburg lobbying lawmakers for the legislation that can help Pittsburgh generate the revenue that has been established in the five year financial recovery plan. The city has said that if it can not tax the payroll of non-profits and raise the emergency services tax it will explore the idea of placing fee's on students who attend the city's universities and on the patients who use the city's hospitals.