Friday: That Which Will Not Kill Us

SoulBodyFood

From the overworked "Nobody Said Anything Was Easy" department…

Surprised by a threatened veto from Mayor Luke Ravenstahl, the transition team for Mayor-elect Bill Peduto is revising an early pension plan for employees who may lose their jobs in the next administration and replacing it with a buyout proposal. (P-G, Timothy McNulty)

The new plan bypasses the state's fundamental religious objection to "pension enhancements".

A Municipal Pension Board official called the plan a bad deal. “There's no way in the world I would take it now, and my phone's been ringing off the hook all day,” said John Sibbett, board president, who planned to retire early under the original proposal. “People aren't going to go.” (Trib, Bob Bauder)

If a smooth and orderly transition isn't in the cards, it just isn't in the cards. The new administration will just have to make explicit its performance standards, and monitor compliance.

But meanwhile...

The Municipal Pension Board, chaired by Public Safety Director Michael Huss, lowered the rate from 8 to 7.5 percent, a move that will force the city to increase its contribution to the funds by about $5 million annually. 

The measure passed 5-2 with Ravenstahl voting in favor and Huss against. Ravenstahl Finance Director Scott Kunka, who serves as non-voting executive board director, argued against the decrease. 

Ravenstahl had consistently opposed lowering the projection... (Trib, Bob Bauder)

MORE:  Null Space

Just add it to our tab:

As it turns out, [Ravenstahl's] budget team miscalculated, sending the city's real estate tax revenue -- its single biggest source of income by far -- into the red this year. And it could force incoming Mayor Bill Peduto to "readjust" the millage, aka implement a tax increase, in one of his first acts in office. (Early Returns)

And remember:

"Because the City now has moved through a succession of balanced budgets, it appears that its time of financial crisis may be over, which also should mean that the need for the Public Service Fund and the nonprofit contributions that it has collected no longer exists." (P-G, Moriah Balingit)

Between the City's actual inherited challenges, and the folks who are trying only to break this administration, and the folks who have already given up entirely on City government, and who have punted on government in general, Pittsburgh is set to grow unprecedentedly strong!