In her 2025 budget, Allegheny County Executive Sara Innamorato wants to raise county property taxes by 2.2 mills. Effectively, this means $220 more collected per $100,000 of property value. County council is now seeking a lower hike of 1.35 mills, and at least one news outlet says property tax hikes “should be the last possible option.”
The last countywide reassessment was in 2012. Former ACE Rich Fitzgerald didn’t have the political appetite for it (leading, ironically, to a large disparity between Fitzgerald and his own neighbor). So the overdue process of realistically assessing property values in a much-changed metropolitan area now falls to Innamorato. With court decisions blowing further holes in both commercial and residential tax revenue, this has led to real fear of “catastrophic” cuts to the local services on which many rely.
I’m here with a simple message from one Pittsburgh homeowner: please raise my property taxes. The longer we wait on this, the more it’s going to hurt.
Before getting into why we should pay the piper, it’s worth acknowledging that Innamorato pledged that she is “not going to drastically cut critical services that the people of this county rely on.” Her administration has taken pains to prove the benefits of a 2.2 mill hike in ways likely to resonate with voters across party lines. For suburbanites concerned about homelessness, infrastructure, and public safety, Innamorato’s proposed budget would be a massive infusion of resources.
On the housing front, Inammorato has made good on constructing “more than 100 units already created as part of 500 in 500,” her initiative to house 500 people without shelter in 500 days. Meanwhile, the county announced on Oct. 24 that the Second Avenue Commons shelter would reopen with extended hours ahead of winter. An increase of total shelter beds has also given the county’s Department of Human Services (DHS) a headstart on winter plans that includes 600 beds at places of refuge throughout the city (if you need these services, you can visit connect.alleghenycounty.us/get-help-now).
“Our goal is to ensure that no one has to spend a night out in the cold,” said DHS director Erin Dalton in a press release. “I’m so pleased that this year we will not need a Code Blue protocol for people experiencing homelessness because shelter and daytime supports will be open every day, all winter, and not just on the coldest nights of the year.”
Other work includes funding lead-safe homes, senior services, community living centers, and educational support (local municipalities are themselves considering tax hikes in some cases). It also includes funding for first responders — Innamorato’s budget would allocate $57 million for the County Police and Emergency Service.
“The critical public safety and justice functions of the County absolutely need to be fully funded,” she said in a Nov. 20 press release. “My proposed budget invests in the modernization and expansion of public safety services to meet today’s challenges.”
Innamorato says a 1.35 mill increase wouldn’t be enough. And she’s right.
Local politicians are already feeling the constraints of the end of the COVID relief money that kept people afloat and made possible infrastructure projects such as the Fern Hollow Bridge repair. That means belt-tightening ahead from the federal government on down. Add to that the potential effects of Trump’s proposed tariffs, deportations, and elimination of the Department of Education, and you’re looking at a county government that suddenly has to do everything.
It’s been twelve years. Reassess the taxes. If we don’t do it now, we’re going to feel any downstream economic ripples that much harder, and our public employees will have that much more on their overly full plates.
For most homeowners, 2.2 mills — which, as proposed, would include a higher homestead exemption — would be the equivalent of buying one more meal out per month. O’Hara Township Controller Darwin Leuba made a simulator where you can look up your address and see what your additional tax burden would be. For my house, I’d pay $13 more per month. I’d be there already if I cut out two craft beers before tip.
Heck, I looked up the third-most expensive home in the region. They’d pay an additional $400 per month. If you own a $7 million house, I’m pretty sure you can afford another $400.
Ask yourself before viewing it, as WTAE puts it, as a “40% spike”: do you like driving on roads with fewer potholes? Do you like special education services? Do you like a responsive police department? Do you like not seeing people suffering on our streets in inclement weather? I’m gonna guess you do like these things, and your property taxes pay for many of them.
COVID and the years following made it abundantly clear that we need these services. If you care about your neighbor, say it with me: please raise my taxes. The longer we kick this can, the worse it will be for everyone who lives in Allegheny County, rich and poor.
This article appears in Nov 20-26, 2024.
