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From YouTube: Pittsburgh City Council Budget Hearings - 11/30/22
Description
Department of Finance
Department of Law
A
A
B
Director
sure
the
finance
department
provides
fiscal
leadership
for
the
city's
focused
on
long-term
Financial
Health,
while
respecting
the
interests
of
its
residents.
It
also
carries
an
important
responsibility
to
ensure
all
entrepreneurs,
Visionaries
and
leaders
have
the
necessary
services
and
City
infrastructure
to
thrive
as
the
city
of
Pittsburgh's
primary
revenue
generator.
The
finance
department
is
committed
to
Excellence
in
financial
management
for
the
city
of
its
residents
and
its
businesses
a
quick
overview.
The
Department
of
Finance
has
five
major
divisions
each
with
several
sub-sections.
B
Those
major
divisions
are
the
administration
and
treasury
division,
business,
intelligence,
division,
real
estate,
tax
compliance
and
cash
management.
An
update
for
the
position
summary
changes
in
2023.
There
is
0.85
new
full-time
employees,
but
we
can
explain
that
it's
really
one
new
full-time
position,
but
it's
only
being
partially
funded
through
the
general
fund.
B
There's
also
a
swap
of
a
deputy
director
for
an
assistant
director,
a
swap
of
a
finance
system,
analyst
for
a
senior
Enterprise
applications,
administrator,
a
swap
of
Revenue
and
analytics
manager
for
one
additional
Finance
system,
analyst,
a
swap
of
Specialists
tax
compliance
for
a
technician,
accounting,
a
swap
of
supervisory
clerk
for
additional
assistant
to
administrative
and
allocations,
changes
between
finance
and
three
TVs.
So,
overall,
that's
an
increase
of
about
a
hundred
thousand
dollars
a
summary
of
non-personnel
changes.
The
Department
of
Finance
is
where
the
city's
pension
and
Debt
Service
payments
are
budgeted.
B
So
approximately
28
percent
of
the
city's
operating
budget
is
housed
there.
So
that's
why
they
have
such
a
large
budget.
Overall,
there
is
7.8
Million
Dollar
increase
in
Department
of
Finance
budget.
Specifically,
this
is
due
to
about
two
and
a
half
million
dollars
more
in
pension
contributions,
468
000,
additional
dollars
for
opeb
contributions,
4.7
million
dollars,
additional
in
debt
service
payments
and
750
000
to
Ura
for
inventory
management
and
now
I
will
just
go
over
the
three
taxing
bodies
quickly.
B
The
three
taxing
bodies
are
the
city
of
Pittsburgh
Allegheny
County
and
Pittsburgh
Public
Schools,
the
city
acts
as
trustee
agent
for
properties
owned
jointly
by
the
three
taxing
bodies.
The
three
taxing
bodies
trust
fund
was
established
to
pay
for
costs
relating
to
the
administration
of
these
properties.
B
A
quick
overview
revenues
are
made
up
of
funds
received
from
the
three
taxing
bodies,
as
well
as
transfers
from
the
general
fund.
Expenditures
are
salaries
and
other
related
expenses
that
are
incurred
by
the
city,
in
its
employment
of
personnel
related
and
to
the
maintenance
and
disposition
of
the
properties
owned
by
the
three
taxing
bodies.
B
A
C
E
F
A
C
B
I'll
start
with
the
Department
of
Law,
the
Department
of
Law
provides
legal
advice
and
services
as
in-house
corporate
Council
to
the
city
of
Pittsburgh,
which
often
involves
providing
advice
to
the
mayor,
City
directors,
city,
council
and
various
government
units.
It
represents
the
city
in
all
legal
aspects
of
its
daily
governmental
functions.
B
It
also
represents
the
city
in
high
profile
cases,
significantly
impacting
public
policy
in
City
residents,
quality
of
life,
the
Department
of
Law,
operates
as
a
quality,
proactive
Boutique,
Law
Firm,
attracting
talented
professionals
with
impeccable
Integrity
from
the
public
and
private
sector,
quick
overview
of
the
Law
Department
it
has.
It
is
divided
into
several
general
service
areas
and
the
divisions
are
as
follows:
Federal
litigation,
State
litigation,
labor
and
employment,
General
Municipal
claims
and
open
wreck
records
officer.
There
is
a
total
of
37.3
full-time
employees.
B
The
2023
operating
budget
calls
for
2.8
new
full-time
employees
to
be
funded
out
of
the
general
fund.
That
includes
one
additional
assistant
city
city
solicitor,
one
new
contract
administrator,
one
assistant,
one,
administrative,
a
lead
investigator,
which
will
be
shared
with
the
ethics
hearing.
The
ethics
board,
which
has
been
removed
from
the
budget
and
0.3
of
an
assistant
real
estate,
has
been
added,
which
will
be
shared
with
the
three
taxing
bodies
which
it
comes
to
an
overall
increase
of
323
817
dollars.
B
B
There's
about
3.5
million
dollars
additional
in
judgments,
which
is
217
percent
increase,
1.5
million
dollars
additionally
budgeted
for
federal
and
state
legal
fees
and
two
hundred
thousand
dollars
for
outside
legal
counsel
for
labor
negotiations
and
quickly
I
can
go
over
the
ethics
hearing
board.
The
mission
of
the
ethics
hearing
board
is
to
promote
public
trust
and
confidence
in
public
services
by
fostering
integrity
and
partiality
with
city
government.
The
functions
of
the
ethics
hearing
board
is
to
provide
advice,
education,
training,
investigation
and
enforcement
of
a
wide
range
of
Ethics
topics.
B
The
board
is
compromised
of
nine
comprised
of
nine
members
each
having
reputations
of
personal
integrity
and
honesty
staff
serve
current
former
and
prospective
city
employees,
public
officials
and
vendors
staff
provide
advice,
conduct
trainings,
assist
with
the
required
disclosures,
publish,
advisory
opinions,
review
complaints,
perform
investigations,
hold
hearings,
enforce
violations,
maintain
campaign,
Finance
reports,
records
and
records,
and
other
duties
outlined
in
code.
The
executive
director
serves
the
board
appointed
by
the
ethics
officers,
maintains
the
administrative
apparatus
of
the
board
and
conducts
those
functions
explicitly
delegated
to
her
by
the
board
and
the
periods
between
meetings.
A
E
Thank
you
very
much,
councilman
Lavelle
I
would
my
again.
My
name
is
krisha
Kubiak
and
I'm,
the
solicitor
and
chief
legal
officer.
Thank
you
for
allowing
me
to
be
peer
today
to
discuss
the
law
Department's
budget
for
2023..
Thank
you
also
for
allowing
me
to
appear
by
Zoom
I've,
recently
contracted
covid
and
appreciate
the
consideration
before
I
get
into
my
budget.
E
I
want
to
extend
my
thanks
to
the
council
members,
who
have
all
welcomed
me
into
the
city
and
included
me
in
your
decision
making
process
I
very
much
enjoyed
working
with
you
and
with
your
excellent
staffs.
While
you
have
tackled
important
issues
such
as
maintaining
abortion,
access
safety
for
residents,
homelessness,
the
environment
and
blight,
I
would
also
like
to
thank
Dan
friedson
solicitor
for
Council
who,
from
the
beginning,
has
been
a
great
partner
with
respect
to
the
law
budget.
There
is,
there
are
no
Capital
expenditures.
E
The
big
changes
from
last
year's
budget
fall
into
three
categories.
I
will
review
them
each
briefly
and
then
welcome
any
questions.
The
first
is
real
estate.
In
2022,
the
Law
Department
succeeded
in
speeding
up
the
Contracting
process
through
law.
We
hope
to
accomplish
something
similar
to
that
in
the
real
estate
area,
the
city
owns
approximately
13
000
Lots
throughout
the
city.
We
have
asked
for
a
real
estate
attorney,
who
will
be
dedicated
to
processing,
quiet
titles,
working
on
the
adopt
a
lot
program
and
generally
tasked
with
getting
their
arms
around
all
of
these
properties.
E
They'll
also
be
working
on
the
conservatorship
cases,
we'll
also
be
transferring
three
of
the
real
estate
assistants
from
Finance
to
law,
since
their
job
duties
are
primarily
in
the
paralegal
space
filing
of
documents
tracking
service
Etc.
We
hope
that
this
change
can
be
the
Practical
and
boots
on
the
ground,
assistance
to
the
city's
plans
to
create
more
affordable
housing
and
create
a
city
for
all.
E
E
We
asked
for
a
contract
administrator
for
the
missing
piece,
someone
who
tracks
all
the
certificates
of
insurance
who
can
access
all
the
contracts
and
who
can
be
a
resource
for
the
Departments
when
they
have
questions
about
whether
a
vendor
is
fulfilling
the
terms
of
the
contract
by
being
housed
in
the
legal
department.
The
administrator
can
easily
access
legal
advice
on
what
to
do
if
a
vendor
is
not
living
up
to
their
side
of
the
bargain.
Our
hope
is
that
this
position
will
create
a
more
efficient
government
that
always
gets
the
benefit
that
they
bargained
for.
E
F
D
You
well
my
question.
I.
Thank
you
both
for
being
here
today
or
being
present
with
us
today.
I'm
sorry
about
your
illness
solicitor,
but
I
am
grateful
for
the
work
that
you
you
and
your
teams
both
do
every
day
and
I
was
going
to
ask
about
the
rationale
for
the
increased
spending
on
judgments.
I
will
refrain
from
doing
so
based
on
your
recommendation
and
can
have
that
conversation
with
you,
one-on-one,
perhaps
or
privately
an
executive
session
and
I
guess
when
it
comes
to
ethics.
B
D
Pleased
to
see
that
there's
been
a
real
culture
shift,
prioritizing
ethics
and
environmental
compliance
as
well,
which
the
city
doesn't
have
the
same
sort
of
concerned
with,
but
certainly
ethics
is,
is
something
that
we
all
should
be
concerned
about
and
what
I've
noticed
through
their
work
is
that
especially
come
holiday
season?
There
have
been,
you
know,
proactive
questions
asked
by
employees
to
their
ethics
officer.
D
Am
I
allowed
to
accept
this
gift?
Am
I
allowed
to
accept
this
invitation
for
a
holiday
party,
mixer
sort
of
thing
you
know,
what's
the
what's
the
line
and
I'm
wondering
if
we're
at
that
point
at
the
city
now,
where
you're
getting
questions
proactively
from
employees
who
aren't
sure
what
to
do
in
a
certain
situation?
That's
right.
F
It's
it's
been
a
really
interesting
and
exciting
to
see
those
numbers
increase
over
time
and
with
council's
help
I
think
next
year.
Hopefully
we'll
get
a
couple
changes
to
chapter
197
and
198
and
update
our
our
handbooks.
Our
code
of
conduct
I've
already
started
buying
the
paper,
so
we
can
get
those
issued
next
year.
Hopefully
yeah.
D
D
D
Well,
I'm
glad
to
hear
that
the
numbers
are
ticking
up,
because
to
me
that's
a
sign
that
the
city
has
a
culture
of
taking
this
seriously
and
I
know
you
do
everything
you
can
to
continue
to
remind
people
of
their
responsibility
to
ask
questions
when
they
don't
know
and
I
hope
that
that
can
that
can
continue.
And
you
have
the
bandwidth
for
that
to
continue,
because
it's
only
through
I
think
almost
constant,
reminding
that
people
think
about
this
and
think
to
think
to
ask
the
question
in
the
first
place,
but
no
other.
A
A
A
B
A
E
Over
there
are
three
positions
right
now
that
sit
in
the
finance
department
and
they
are
the
ones
who
work
on
The,
Quiet,
Title
issues
and
the
adopt
a
lot
issues
that
we
have
right
now.
They
are
kind
of
acting
in
a
paralegal
position,
and
so
we
think
it
makes
more
sense
for
them
to
report
directly
to
an
attorney,
and
we
hope
that
we'll
be
able
to
speed
up
that
process,
because
you
may
be
aware
that
throughout
the
city
that
can
take
a
long
time.
So
this
doesn't
change
at
all.
You
know.
E
Council
still
has
the
full
Authority
about
which
properties
are
getting
moved.
We're
just
here
to
make
sure
that
once
a
decision
gets
made
about
whether
a
property
should
be
moved
that
we're
doing
it
as
quickly
and
expeditiously
as
possible,
and
then
so
those
three
positions
will
work
with
the
real
estate
attorney
to
make
sure
that
they
that's
kind
of
their
sole
focus
and
one
of
their
goals
is
to
move
those
processes
along.
A
B
A
You
mentioned
fees.
You
may
not
be
able
to
answer
this
question,
but
since
you
meant
brought
it
up,
I'm
gonna
ask
currently.
If
the
land
bank
two
were
to
acquire
a
vacant
parcel,
we
would
owe
the
city
I
believe
is
2500..
If
we
acquire
a
structure,
we
owe
the
city
5
000..
Do
you
have
any
sense
of
where
those
numbers
come
from.
E
I,
don't
and
and
I
will
say,
that's
part
of
the
goal
of
having
a
real
estate
attorney
is
because
I
do
want
to
have
someone
who
can
be
on
charge
of
all
of
these
issues
and
has
a
really
deep
understanding
of
the
real
estate
side
of
it
all,
and
they
will
be
here
to
be
able
to
answer
any
of
those
questions.
Okay,.
A
G
G
Good
they've
been
good
people,
but
I
just
want
to
say
you
have
been
just
I
mean
amazing
in
the
way
that
you
respond
to
council
and
the
I
feel
like
you're,
a
solicitor
for
the
City
of
Pittsburgh.
You
know
you're
not
serving
just
one
body
or
one
one.
You
know
One
Division
here
so
I
just
want
to
thank
you
for
your
work
for
and
your
professionalism.
G
E
D
Thank
you,
I
had
one
additional
question
and
it
should
be
very
short
solicitor.
Kubiak,
I
I've
asked
this
in
previous
budget
hearings
and
I.
Don't
know
if
you're
able
to
answer
this
but
I
I
often
note
the
outside
counsel
that
we
retain
and
and
approve
contracts
for
or
approve
entering
into
a
contract
for,
and
the
cost
of
that
and
note
that
at
times
it
can
be
quite
expensive,
I,
don't
know
what
the
breakdown
is
actually
I
should
have
in
front
of
me.
E
D
That
is
spent
on
outside
Council
and
whether
there's
a
threshold,
at
which
point
it
makes
sense
to
just
find
that
expertise
and
bring
it
in-house
like.
Is
there
a
threshold
and
have
we
reached
it
in
any
sort
of
issue
areas,
or
are
we
still
well-rounded
enough
that
we
can
keep
our
proposed
like
levels
of
expertise,
areas
of
expertise
that
we
have
or
that
are
in
this
proposed
budget,
and
and
that's
and
that's
satisfactory
to
you?
D
E
Some
of
them
the
issues
we
I
would
say.
We
have
no
choice
on
because
we
have
hired
outside
counsel
for
conflict
issues
so
that
this
city,
the
city
as
you
know,
represents
the
city
of
Pittsburgh
as
the
municipal
Corporation,
but
also
represents
all
the
city,
employees
that
are
sued,
and
sometimes
our
legal
position
conflicts
with
one
of
those
city,
employees
and
so
therefore
we're
responsible
for
making
sure
that
those
city
employees
have
their
own
Council.
E
So
we
can't
get
around
that
scenario,
and
then
there
are
also
scenarios
where
just
the
attorneys
that
I
have
are
because
of
their
relationship
with
city.
Employees
are
conflicted
out,
so
we'll
have
to
hire
outside
counsel,
but
in
those
cases
and
I
think
tax
is
certainly
one
of
them.
We
years
ago
there
was
an
attorney
within
the
city.
Department
who
was
strong
on
tax.
We
are
starting
to
I,
would
say,
train
up
Kristen
Erickson
on
tax
issues
so
that
hopefully,
in
the
future,
we
are
less
relying
on
it.
E
We've
also
hired
attorneys
because
of
real
estate,
expertise
and
again,
I
hope.
This
new
real
estate
Position
will
keep
us
from
having
to
do
that
as
often
in
the
future
as
well.
So
our
goal
you
are
correct
is
always
to
make
sure
we
have
the
expertise
in-house
or
that
we
train
it
up,
but
sometimes
the
cases
are
I
would
say
so
important
that
we
do
need
to
bring
in
some
extra
help.
D
A
H
A
I
was
asking
where
the
numbers
have
come
from:
it's
my
understanding
that,
when,
if
the
land
bank
were
to
acquire
property
off
of
the
city,
that
we
would
owe
the
city
2500
for
vacant,
Parcels,
5
000
for
structures
and
I
have
no
idea
or
sense
of
why
or
where
or
how
those
costs
were
traded,
as
opposed
to
looking
at
it
on
an
individual
basis.
And
so
I
was
just
curious,
because
no
one's
really
been
able
to
explain
that.
A
So
that's
what
the
city
also
charges
the
Ura
okay,
which
is
why
I'm
assuming
they
just
carried
those
figures
and
it's
just
a
flat
fee
each
time.
That's
what
the
city
charges
the
Ura
so
I'm,
assuming
they're
just
carrying
that
same
flat
fee
over
to
the
land
bank.
But
again,
when
I
first
asked
you
already
like.
That's
just
how
it's
always
been
done,
so
they
weren't
sure
what
the
figures
came
from.
H
So,
thank
you
for
opening
that
line
of
questioning,
even
if
we
can't
kind
of
get
the
answers
in
front
of
us
today,
I
think
it's
really
important
that
we
all
understand.
You
know
the
table
that
my
office,
my
our
intern,
did
for
us
was
kind
of
going
back
through
eight
years
of
side,
yard
transfers
and
so
like
what?
H
What
are
those
things
like?
Let's
get?
You
know
it's
eight
years
later
now,
let's
look
at
what
those
updates
are.
So
none
of
these
questions
can
be
answered
today,
but
sometimes
these
things
rates
really
help
us
clarify
questions
and
I
feel
like
that's,
maybe
where
I
am
right
now,
so
thank
you,
councilman
for
starting
that
inquiry,
so
I'm
glad
and
supportive
to
see
the
additional
1.3
of
a
full-time
employee
in
the
law
department.
G
Else,
I'm
sorry
I
just
want
to
just
mention
that
you
know
I
think
we'd
sit
here,
we're
trying
to
juggle.
We
had
meetings
this
morning,
trying
to
figure
out
how
we
can
balance
the
needs
for
the
city
and
the
amount
of
people.
We
need
to
do
the
jobs
for
our
constituents
and
the
budget
that
we
have
to
work
with,
and
you
know
we
can.
We
can't
give
people
a
pay,
raise
and
hire
new
people
and
also
attract
new
people
if
we're
not
paying
them.
So
it's
like
a
whole.