Pittsburgh City Council cast informal votes Thursday on dozens of amendments to Mayor Ed Gainey’s 2026 budget proposal, inching toward a significant increase in planned expenses for next year and setting up a vote this Sunday on a potential tax hike.
The amendments could add about $19 million to the operating budget, plugging holes council members alleged Gainey left for vehicle maintenance, public safety overtime and utility bills.
To offset some of those costs, council members voted to trim spending on computer upgrades, seasonal public works laborers, and more.
Thursday’s votes did not formally amend the budget, but served as a public statement of council’s intentions before Saturday’s public hearing. The amendments would need formal approval on Sunday, and council can change its plan again before then.
The amendments, if all are approved Sunday, increase operating expenditures by a net of $18.9 million — raising the likelihood that council will raise the property tax rate to balance the budget. Multiple members said Thursday they were hesitant to endorse a tax hike, let alone settle on a percentage increase they would support.
“We’re making a lot of difficult decisions today,” Councilor Erika Strassburger said. “And we will be making more hard decisions in the future about a possible millage increase.”
Peter McDevitt, City Council’s budget director, said during the meeting that council would have to raise taxes for the slew of amendments approved Thursday to work.
“The proposed cuts will not cover the proposed costs,” he said.
Property taxes rising — but how much?
Councilor Barb Warwick introduced a bill raising the property tax rate 30%, though most members said a hike that large is unlikely. It’s unclear if the nine legislators have found consensus on a new millage rate; five votes are needed to pass tax legislation, and six would be needed to override a mayoral veto.
Those discussions continue as Pittsburgh Public Schools approved a tax hike of its own Wednesday night, though the jump from 10.25 to 10.457 mills is half the 4% rise originally proposed by the administration. In approving the reduced increase, PPS leaders said a redistribution of cyber school funding approved by the state late November takes some pressure off local taxpayers, though PPS’ $730 million 2026 budget still forecasts a $6.3 million deficit.
Snow woes reveal needs
For City Council, the largest amendment greenlit Thursday was a doubling of the allocation for vehicle maintenance and purchases from $10 million to $20 million.
Warwick said the recent snow storm highlighted the city’s dire need for fleet upgrades. She said public safety officials have said the fleet needs $20 million annually.
Other members echoed a desire to invest more in vehicles but worried doing so would give them no choice but to raise taxes.
“I do feel in voting for this, it kind of puts us in a box where we’re almost forced to raise taxes and I haven’t come to terms with that,” Councilor Anthony Coghill said.
Councilman Bobby Wilson voted for the amendment Thursday but would not commit to supporting it for final approval on Sunday.
Cost cutting measures councilors approved Thursday included:
- Decreasing a transfer to the Stop the Violence Trust Fund from $10 million to $5 million for 2026
- Eliminating the police’s horse-mounted unit for a savings of $140,000
- Decreasing funding for technology upgrades by $500,000
- Reducing cleaning and landscaping funding by $255,000.
Council members voted down a proposal to reduce non-union employees’ cost-of-living raises from 3% to 2%. The move would have saved more than $500,000 next year, but members worried it would lead to employees leaving city government.
Council President R. Daniel Lavelle asked department leaders earlier this month to come up with plans to cut costs across the board, but said Thursday that idea hasn’t panned out.
“Once we had those memos we discovered how bare bones our departments were already, so we decided not to touch those departments because it would affect core services,” Lavelle said.
Aside from the increase in vehicle spending, council members said the two largest cost increases were meant to bring Gainey’s budget proposal in line with actual costs. An additional $8 million for public safety overtime and $6.5 million for utility bills are needed for the city to simply meet its obligations for next year, they said. Gainey’s director of management and budget disputed those assessments in public hearings.
Charlie Wolfson is the local government reporter for Pittsburgh’s Public Source. He can be reached at charlie@publicsource.org.
Lajja Mistry contributed.
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