Allegheny County Council president says Sara Innamorato's proposed budget and tax increase ‘dead on arrival’
By Steve Bohnel / Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
Allegheny County Council President Patrick Catena said Monday that county Executive Sara Innamorato’s proposed budget and nearly 50% tax increase are “dead on arrival,” saying that he and more than four of his colleagues oppose such an increase.
It’s the opening foray into what Mr. Catena and the county’s GOP leader and at-large Councilman Sam DeMarco say will be the most difficult budget season of their years on council.
Last week, Ms. Innamorato presented to council her proposed budget and the corresponding tax increase — increasing taxation by 2.2 mills from 4.73 to 6.93 mills, an average of about $182 a year for the median homeowner in Allegheny County when factoring in a proposed increased homestead exemption.
When contacted Monday, a spokesperson in Ms. Innamorato’s office referred to comments Ms. Innamorato made last week, when she told reporters that the budget was “fiscally responsible” and said “we're not going to drastically cut critical services that the people of this county rely on.”
Mr. Catena said that there was no way he could support a tax increase on county residents of roughly 46.5%. The “writing has been on the wall” that County Council members will have to enter a tough budget season, he said. This year is now that time, he added.
The council president said that at least four other council members have publicly opposed the increase, including: Mr. DeMarco and Democrats Nicholas Futules, Bob Macey and Robert Palmosina, who chairs the council’s committee on budget and finance.
Suzanne Filiaggi, the other Republican on council besides Mr. DeMarco, said in an interview Monday that she was against it, too.
For any tax increase, Ms. Innamorato would need to get support from 10 of the council’s 15 members, per the county charter.
Ms. Filiaggi agreed with Mr. Catena and Mr. DeMarco that budget deliberations for council would be difficult. She added that given the size of the proposed increase, the next couple of months would be a historic period for the council.
“I think this is the toughest budget council has ever faced … everybody is going to sharpen their pencils and pay attention, which is our job,” she said.
She said she has preliminary concerns about the huge increase for child care initiatives and “miscellaneous” accounts, but added that council needs to have robust dialogue and debate about where in the budget to potentially cut funding.
Ms. Filiaggi, Mr. DeMarco and Mr. Catena said they’ve gotten hundreds of emails, calls and other correspondence against the proposed increase. All say that some sort of a hiring freeze for county employees should be considered — but how far-reaching that might be, remains to be seen.
Mr. Futules, who was elected to council in November 2007, shared many of his colleagues’ concerns.
“Every time I see someone in person who knows I’m an elected official, they ask me about it,” Mr. Futules said.
Ms. Innamorato said in her opening days in office that there were over 1,000 vacancies in county government. Mr. Catena and Mr. DeMarco said that they’ve heard that about 400 of those positions are included in the proposed 2025 operating budget.
That’s one potential place to cut, they said — but again, further deliberations are needed, including questions asked of county staff across various departments and divisions. They added that layoffs should be a last resort.
“It’s irresponsible laying people off, but it’s also irresponsible to not use all the tools at our disposal to try and cut from this budget,” Mr. Catena said.
The council has three scheduled public hearings on the budget: Oct. 17, Oct. 28 and Oct. 30 in the Gold Room of the Allegheny County Courthouse, all at 5 p.m. Residents can also submit written comments to council members through Nov. 8.