PRINTER'S NO. 2223
No. 347 Session of 2008
INTRODUCED BY ORIE, PIPPY AND BROWNE, JUNE 23, 2008
REFERRED TO URBAN AFFAIRS AND HOUSING, JUNE 23, 2008
A RESOLUTION 1 Supporting efforts for current functional consolidation and 2 future political consolidation of the City of Pittsburgh with 3 Allegheny County. 4 WHEREAS, Many studies, such as the notable report, Back to 5 Prosperity: A Competitive Agenda for Renewing Pennsylvania, 6 published in December 2003 by The Brookings Institution, have 7 promoted the potential efficiencies and cost savings to 8 taxpayers of eliminating fragmented government and consolidating 9 government functions; and 10 WHEREAS, The Citizens Advisory Committee on the Efficiency 11 and Effectiveness of City-County Government recently recommended 12 that the City of Pittsburgh merge with Allegheny County; and 13 WHEREAS, In 2005, the Local Government Consolidation: Lessons 14 for West Virginia studies on merger and consolidation showed 15 that most successful reorganizations are characterized by a 16 process involving a few functions which expand to a much larger 17 number as experience builds both trust and competency; and 18 WHEREAS, In January 1996, the Committee to Prepare Allegheny
1 County for the 21st Century (ComPAC 21), established by the 2 county commissioners, noted that "As a region, we cannot afford 3 nor do taxpayers expect to pay for unnecessary and duplicative 4 public services"; and 5 WHEREAS, In October 1996, the Competitive Pittsburgh Task 6 Force, established by the Mayor of the City of Pittsburgh, 7 issued a report containing the "major recommendation" for 8 cooperation between the city and the county to eliminate all 9 duplicate services, which included specialized police and public 10 safety services, emergency management, senior citizen programs, 11 recreational programs, public works and administrative support 12 services; and 13 WHEREAS, Specific recommendations included selling the 14 asphalt plant and entering into a joint purchasing agreement for 15 the purchase of asphalt, combine bomb and ordnance disposal 16 units, fleet maintenance and senior centers; and 17 WHEREAS, In 2001, the PBGH 21 Commission, formed by the Mayor 18 of the City of Pittsburgh, proposed that the rapid changes in 19 technology should prompt the city to share services, personnel 20 and infrastructure, or to take advantage of economies of scale, 21 hardware and software, with Allegheny County and other 22 jurisdictions; and 23 WHEREAS, This included, but was not limited to, a joint 24 nonemergency call-taking center, purchasing and fleet 25 management; and 26 WHEREAS, In 2003, the Allegheny County Chief Executive sent a 27 letter to the city which identified cost savings that could be 28 achieved through the sharing of services; and 29 WHEREAS, Those proposed shared functions included integration 30 of economic development organizations, combined purchasing 20080S0347R2223 - 2 -
1 operations, telecommunications, records storage, furniture 2 warehousing and inventory control, mailing and vending, fleet 3 management and shared fueling facilities, information 4 technology, road maintenance, print and sign printing shops and 5 joint public safety training; and 6 WHEREAS, The Interim Coordination and Information Sharing 7 report to the Intergovernmental Cooperation Authority (ICA) from 8 the City of Pittsburgh Act 47 Recovery Plan Development, dated 9 April 8, 2004, noted its recommendations will build on recent 10 discussions with Allegheny County and the Pittsburgh School 11 District for increased functional consolidation in areas, such 12 as the purchasing of uniforms, utilities, telecommunications, 13 vending and information technology services and in pooled 14 service delivery, such as police training, including 15 consolidation of training facilities; and 16 WHEREAS, The ICA for Cities of the Second Class preliminary 17 report of April 12, 2004, noted that the declines in the city's 18 tax base have still not been offset by corresponding reductions 19 in city expenditures and noted that excessive duplication of 20 services continues; and 21 WHEREAS, The Municipalities Financial Recovery Act Recovery 22 Plan for the City of Pittsburgh prepared by Public Financial 23 Management and Eckert Seamans Cherin & Mellott, LLC, and filed 24 with the city clerk on June 11, 2004, contained 29 25 intergovernmental cooperation initiatives, including 26 consolidation of purchasing, transfer of arson investigation to 27 the county, transfer of pet licensing to the county, joint 28 facility management, joint information technology management, 29 equipment and services and consolidation of tax collection; and 30 WHEREAS, The November 2004 report of the ICA for Cities of 20080S0347R2223 - 3 -
1 the Second Class discussed the continuing need for the merger of 2 city and county purchasing functions and the study of other 3 consolidations, such as the integration of city and county 4 detectives, which should and must occur if they can provide 5 significant cost reductions while enhancing the quality of such 6 services to citizens; and 7 WHEREAS, According to the Allegheny Institute for Public 8 Policy, the city and county have failed to move forward on a 9 majority of the above-recommended consolidations of services to 10 date, including, but not limited to, park maintenance and other 11 public works activities, and has even failed to privatize 12 garbage collection; and 13 WHEREAS, The city has failed to sell assets or set aside 14 funds to address its significant debt and legacy costs; and 15 WHEREAS, A presentation in March 2008 by the ICA for Cities 16 of the Second Class to the Department of Community and Economic 17 Development demonstrated that the city continues to have serious 18 financial issues and noted that more structural change is 19 necessary to impact the heavy legacy burden of unfunded 20 pensions, postretirement health care, debt and capital budget 21 needs and that the current five-year operating budget 22 projections show a return to deficits even before addressing 23 these legacy costs; and 24 WHEREAS, The governmental consolidation proposed by the 25 Citizens Advisory Committee does not adequately address the 26 responsibility for the debts and legacy costs of the city in 27 that it fails to contemplate the debts and obligations of the 28 city's numerous authorities, such as urban redevelopment, sewer 29 and parking, among others; and 30 WHEREAS, The governmental consolidation proposed by the 20080S0347R2223 - 4 -
1 Citizens Advisory Committee leaves constitutional and other 2 major issues unanswered, such as the future political 3 representation of citizens, the Uniformity Clause prohibitions 4 on disparate tax rates within a single jurisdiction, the number 5 and level of future governmental employees and operations, and 6 the role of other municipalities located within the county, 7 among other issues, in addition to the above-mentioned serious 8 financial questions regarding pension, debt and other 9 inadequately funded obligations of the city; and 10 WHEREAS, Merging services can be accomplished immediately by 11 vote of the respective councils and the agreement of the Mayor 12 of the City of Pittsburgh and the Allegheny County Chief 13 Executive without legislation by the General Assembly; therefore 14 be it 15 RESOLVED, That the Senate support the immediate functional 16 consolidation of services between the City of Pittsburgh and 17 Allegheny County and encourage the city to take the necessary 18 and significant steps to reduce its debt and legacy costs as a 19 precondition to any political or governmental consolidation; and 20 be it further 21 RESOLVED, That the Senate Urban Affairs and Housing Committee 22 conduct hearings on the issues raised in this Resolution, and 23 any other issues that may arise from the proposed consolidation, 24 prior to the passage of any legislation authorizing political 25 consolidation between the City and the County; and be it further 26 RESOLVED, That no legislation be passed authorizing such 27 political consolidation unless the resolution of these issues is 28 contained therein, and the citizens of the affected jurisdiction 29 can therefore be fully informed of the consequences of political 30 consolidation prior to any ballot referendum thereon. F2L82JS/20080S0347R2223 - 5 -