Fire Departments' Merger Moves Forward

As expected, Pittsburgh Council acted quickly in giving preliminary approval to an agreement between the city and its neighbor to the east, Wilkinsburg Borough, to merge their respective fire departments. The arrangement was officially announced Monday by Pittsburgh Mayor Luke Ravenstahl and Wilkinsburg officials but the deal had been in the works for more than a year.

Before giving tentative approval to the agreement, Council questioned Public Safety Director Michael Huss who said that Pittsburgh will hire the 25 Wilkinsburg firefighters if they wish to join the city's department. Huss said the city would keep open 1 of the 2 Wilkinsburg fire stations and that would lessen response time to calls from the Homewood and Swisshelm Park neighborhoods of the city.

The agreement, under which Wilkinsburg will pay Pittsburgh about $7.5 million through December 2015, has already been approved by Wilkinsburg Council and the city's Act 47 state oversight groups.
Huss did confirm to Pittsburgh Council that Wilkinsburg has approached city officials about a possible merger of police departments.

City-County Merger Study shows No Economic Development Benefits

While local leaders like Allegheny County Executive Dan Onorato and Pittsburgh Mayor Luke Ravenstahl support a city-county merger because of increased economic development, a recent study by a Ball State researcher says there aren’t such benefits.

Dagney Faulk, research director at Ball State’s Center for Business and Economic Research, says statistics from three consolidated areas that merged in the mid 1990s show no signs of increased economic development, although supporters often use that aspect as a primary argument. She says the study focused on the change of total employment and the change in the number of businesses established before and after a merger, and there were not any visible differences.

However, Faulk says this doesn’t mean there aren’t any benefits, citing increased accountability, lower cost of government and increased citizens’ satisfaction.

UPMC Merger Under Way

The UPMC South Side Hospital will be gradually merged into UPMC’s Mercy Hospital, starting tomorrow. The facility will be renamed the UPMC Mercy Hospital South Side Outpatient Center. Among the changes patients can expect are reduction of inpatient services and less emergency care available. The South Side facility’s emergency room will now be called an “Urgent Care Center,” treating only minor injuries and available from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. Outpatient services will remain, but spokesperson Susan Manko says “duplicate services” of both facilities, such as inpatient and emergency service, will be cut. Because of the influx of South Side employees, however, the emergency and physical therapy departments of Mercy Hospital will be expanded. Manko says the fate of the South Side building is yet to be decided.

Officials Discuss Why Merger Is Stalled

Local and state government officials disagree over why a proposed merger of the city of Pittsburgh and Allegheny County has stalled. Fourteen months ago Mayor Luke Ravenstahl and County Executive Dan Onorato called for the consolidation with the other 129 municipalities in the county remaining independent. About 200 people attended a forum in Pittsburgh yesterday to hear why the idea has not moved forward. Onorato said the city and county need the General Assembly to pass legislation allowing for local voters to cast ballots on a merger. Onorato said he would write the bill but state lawmakers don't want him and Ravenstahl doing their jobs. Some state lawmakers told the forum that local officials aren't ready.

More Joint Purchases for Pittsburgh, Allegheny County

Allegheny County Executive Dan Onorato and Pittsburgh Mayor Luke Ravenstahl have agreed to expand the city and county's joint purchasing agreement. Under the new arrangement, the city and county will continue to jointly purchase commodities such as office supplies, uniforms and computers, and will begin consolidated buys of non-professional services such as plumbing repairs, electrical maintenance and waste disposal.
County spokesman Kevin Evanto says that since April 2007, there have been 69 joint contracts and 29 combined bids totaling $19 million. Evanto says as a result the county has saved $5.2 million and the city nearly $1 million. Evanto says that they are also looking at future joint purchases involving I-T systems and financial systems. Evanto says joint purchases can be a step toward a complete consolidation of city and county government, an idea supported by Onorato and Ravenstahl. The expanded agreement still needs the approval of City Council and County Council.

Monaca-Center Merger Approved

The first ever voluntary merger of Pennsylvania school districts was completed today when the state Board of Education voted unanimously in favor of allowing two Beaver County schools to join. The consolidation of Monaca and Center School districts will officially begin July 1, 2009. Board of Education spokesman Michael Race says the merger will benefit both students--by providing better academic programming--and the taxpayer by cutting costs within the district. Race also says the Board would like to see other small districts take the same action. Some other schools have already begun the merger process, he says, but did not specify which ones.

City/County Merger gets Quiet Hearing

Despite gathering at least 25 signatures to call for a public hearing on the possibility of a city county merger only 6 people took to the lectern Tuesday to voice their opinion. Among them was great Pittsburgh League of Women Voters President Suzanne Broughton whose group supports a merging of the city and county while leaving school districts and the other municipalities intact. She says one major concern is making sure voting districts are drawn to ensure good representation for everyone including minorities. Pittsburgh Democratic Committee Chair Barbara Ernsberg presented a long list of reasons why she feels the merger would be ill advised. She says she does not want the city’s elected offices to be eliminated. She also says she sees no real pension and debt solution, fears a weakening of minority representation and is worried about a loss of city identity. She also is worried that boards created to protect citizens such as the citizens police review board and the zoning board would be eliminated because there is no equivalent at the county level.

Pittsburgh Council Talks Merger

There were many questions but few answers as Pittsburgh City Council took up the issue of a proposed merger of the city and Allegheny County.
Council members had questions, in fact some of the invited guest witnesses had questions. Those with the answers….the main proponents of consolidation, Mayor Luke Ravenstahl, County Executive Dan Onorato, and University of Pittsburgh Chancellor Mark Nordenberg who headed a study commission on a merger did not attend.
Barbara Ernsberger chairs the Pittsburgh Democratic Committee. She said supporters have given no good reason why the other municipalities are not involved. She says that means the Pittsburgh area would not be speaking with one voice if the other 129 municipalities are not included. Ernsberger also says the proposed consolidation does not address the city's debt and unfunded pensions.


Tim Stevens’ group, the Black Political Empowerment Project, has yet to take a position on the proposal, but he’s says any merger must take into account the impact on minorities especially concerning political representation and participation in any new joint police force.

Grant Irvin, policy director for the Group "10,000 Friends, an anti-sprawl, sustainable development organization, says the key issue is not whether the city and county should merge, although that might be the solution, but rather how to provide the best services to citizens. He says officials need to ask 5 questions: 1) what is the most effective way to provide services; 2) what is the most equitable way to pay for those services; 3)what inter-government systems must change in order to provide quality services; 4) what obstacles are preventing delivery of the services; and, 5) who should be "at the table."


Councilman Jim Motznik says he supports consolidation but on one big condition: all school districts in the county are joined…and all municipalities as well
The mayor and county executive wanted state lawmakers to okay a measure to permit a ballot question on the issue in November of next year. But legislators say more research is needed…and in the meantime the city and county should look at consolidating planning commissions and economic development departments.