Thursday, January 23, 2025, 5:54PM |  29°
MENU
Advertisement
Jayne Miller, Pittsburgh Parks Conservancy president and CEO, right, answers several questions from city council members during a post agenda city council meeting regarding the Pittsburgh Parks Conservancy ballot question Wednesday at the City-County Building Downtown.
3
MORE

City council, controller grill mayor's office, Parks Conservancy over tax increase ballot question

Jessie Wardarski/Post-Gazette

City council, controller grill mayor's office, Parks Conservancy over tax increase ballot question

City officials asked pointed questions Wednesday at a meeting about a forthcoming ballot initiative that asks residents if they want to pay more in property taxes to fund city parks.

What was billed as a wide-ranging meeting to scrutinize the longstanding partnership between the city and the Pittsburgh Parks Conservancy focused almost exclusively on the nonprofit’s campaign to pass the ballot referendum, which has the support of Mayor Bill Peduto.

Voters will be asked if they want to fund the city’s 165 parks with a 0.5 mill property tax levy -— $50 on every $100,000 of assessed real estate value -— beginning in 2020 that will be used “to improve, maintain, create and operate public parks; improve park safety; equitably fund parks in underserved neighborhoods throughout Pittsburgh.”

Advertisement

The conservancy estimates that the tax would bring in $10 million annually to mainly fund smaller neighborhood parks, which would be prioritized based on an equity score, according to the nonprofit. 

Baxter Park sits empty in July in Homewood. Wooden boards hold up and block portions of the jungle gym, graffiti covers the plastic slides and tubing, as well as missing swings and chipping paint. The Pittsburgh Parks Conservancy petitioned to get a question on November's ballot that asks voters if they want to raise property taxes to fund city parks.
Ashley Murray
Pros and cons of parks tax debated at public hearing

The five council members present — Theresa Kail-Smith, who convened the meeting, along with Darlene Harris, Deb Gross, Corey O’Connor and Erika Strassburger — spent half of the nearly two-hour fact-finding session directing questions at Dan Gilman, the mayor’s chief of staff.

Chief among their concerns were the potential burden on homeowners, particularly those on fixed incomes; how the spending and decision-making would break down between the city and conservancy; the manner in which the ballot initiative was rolled out; and the optics of asking taxpayers to contribute more when large nonprofit landowners in the city -— UPMC, Highmark, the universities, the Catholic diocese and more -— are not paying property taxes.

“This will be on the homeowner,” Ms. Harris said. “Their Social Security isn’t going up. What are they going to choose [to give up]? Will they have to choose their prescription medicines? ... Would it be food that’s taken out of their mouth? I just don’t know how this is going to be justified.”

Advertisement

Mr. Gilman said that “the idea that all of the sudden the corporations and nonprofit community is just going to start writing checks” is not likely. 

He said that with myriad concerns facing the city -— specifically public safety expenses and landslide issues — “the reality is without the additional revenue, the [smaller] parks are not going to see the dollars.”

The council members and Controller Michael Lamb, who also attended, expressed varying degrees of concern regarding communication with the public surrounding the ballot initiative — ranging from the TV commercials funded by the conservancy to who collected the roughly 29,000 signatures to get the question on the ballot.

Ms. Kail-Smith said she had “serious concerns” over the “rushed” campaign roll-out.

Laquay Cane of the East Hills, left, and Lil Haj of the East Hills, walk through a deserted Baxter Park, in July, in Homewood. Wooden boards hold up and block portions of the jungle gym, graffiti covers the plastic slides and tubing, as well as missing swings and chipping paint. The Pittsburgh Parks Conservancy ballot question will ask voters if they want to raise property taxes to fund city parks.
Ashley Murray
Parks referendum to ask city residents to raise their taxes

“Who was the company [that collected signatures]? Ms. Harris asked Parks Conservancy President and CEO Jayne Miller. ... Who was the person who got them all together? Is his last name Preston?” said Ms. Harris, referring to the local political consultant Matt Merriman-Preston.

Ms. Miller said he was involved but that her organization actually worked with a different group.

Turning to Mr. Gilman, Ms. Harris asked whether Mr. Merriman-Preston was the mayor’s campaign chairman.

“I don’t know who [the mayor’s] campaign chairman is,” Mr. Gilman said.

Mr. Merriman-Preston, of Ampersand Consulting, submitted the 1,800 pages of signatures at the Allegheny County Elections Division office on Aug. 6. Mr. Merriman-Preston, a consultant who worked on the conservancy’s behalf, also worked as a political strategist on Mr. Peduto’s mayoral campaigns.

Mr. Lamb characterized the campaign for signatures as “misinformation on misinformation” and that the conservancy’s claim that a current privately funded TV ad campaign is not related to the the ballot initiative is “strained legalese. ... How is that fair?”

He said raising taxes is “a real problem for me” when the city is generating a surplus.

But city parks face a $400 million backlog in repairs and a $13 million shortfall in annual routine maintenance, according to the conservancy and the city’s Department of Public Works. The conservancy plans to leverage any incoming tax revenue with private dollars.

“I do not believe the city has resources to bring an additional $20 million to the table [annually],” Ms. Miller said in response to criticism after the meeting. “Two generations of Pittsburghers have suffered from not having access to quality parks. They really do make a difference in people’s lives.”

At the council table Wednesday, Ms. Miller cited positive health effects, community connections and improved air quality as reasons parks are “integral.”

Money could be used to add more laborer jobs, Mr. Gilman said. (Currently, 69 full-time Public Works employees work in the city’s five regional parks -— Emerald View, Frick, Highland, Riverview and Schenley -— and 33 full-time employees cover the remaining 160 smaller parks.)

Ms. Harris asked Mr. Gilman how much of the city’s recent increase in tax revenues has gone to parks projects. He said he didn’t have that information in front of him but could get it for her. 

She replied, “I wish you would have come here with a lot more answers.” 

If voters say yes to the measure, a public board would decide how to divvy up a portion of the tax revenue, while the rest would go to Public Works operations, according to information the mayor’s office provided in August.

“What would that look like?” Ms. Strassburger asked.

“I don’t know at this point,” Mr. Gilman said. “I would envision some sort of agreement before council.”

Any future agreements would be subject to council approval.

“I believe in the power of parks,” Ms. Strassburger said. “This asks the most privileged to help those with the least. But I recognize that not every homeowner is privileged. I also recognize this [would be] another strike against Pittsburgh for first-time home buyers. I’m going to have to continue to look at the numbers. ... I do wish this process would have been a little bit different.”

Ashley Murray: 412-263-1750, amurray@post-gazette.com or @Ashley__Murray

Correction: This story has been changed to correct and clarify two exchanges from the meeting: The discussion of Mr. Merriman-Preston also involved Ms. Miller; Ms. Harris’ wish for more information from Mr. Gilman had to do with park spending, not the mayor’s campaign.

First Published: September 11, 2019, 11:41 p.m.

RELATED
Sophia Thiros, 19, of Carnegie, and Miya Sparbanie, 19, of Squirrel Hill, spend time together on a blanket at Frick Park on On Wednesday in Point Breeze.
Ashley Murray
Mayor Peduto supports ballot initiative for taxpayer-funded parks trust fund
Pittsburgh Parks Conservancy President and CEO Jayne Miller  takes a tour at West End Park Monday, July 15, 2019, in the West End.  West End Park ranks 11th in need of investment for capital improvements among the city's 165 parks.
Diana Nelson Jones
Pittsburgh's parks are $400 million behind in repairs, $13 million short for maintenance
City Councilperson Theresa Kail-Smith
Ashley Murray
City Council questions idea of raising taxes to fix up city parks
SHOW COMMENTS (0)  
Join the Conversation
Commenting policy | How to Report Abuse
If you would like your comment to be considered for a published letter to the editor, please send it to letters@post-gazette.com. Letters must be under 250 words and may be edited for length and clarity.
Partners
Advertisement
Pirates pitcher Paul Skenes, right, plays a “Bucco Trivia”game — inspired by the old $50,000 Pyramid game show from the 70s and 80s — with Pirates fan Owen Howe of Squirrel Hill at PiratesFest at the David L. Lawrence Convention Center Downtown Sunday Jan. 19, 2025. The three-day festival, which wrapped Sunday, features player autograph signings, Q&As, game-show-style events with players and fans and other family friendly activities to gear up for baseball season.
1
sports
Joe Starkey: Pittsburgh desperately needs the Pirates right now. Is anybody home?
Steelers safety Minkah Fitzpatrick (39) and linebacker T.J. Watt (90) stand on the sidelines during an NFL football game against the Cleveland Browns in Pittsburgh, Monday, Sept. 18, 2023.
2
sports
Brian Batko's Steelers mailbag: Is Minkah Fitzpatrick's decline on the player or the coaching?
Michael Lyons, who was appointed president Downtown-based PNC in February, 2024, is leaving to become president and CEO-elect at Fiserv, a global provider of payments and financial services technology.
3
business
PNC president to leave after less than a year on the job
Signage is pictured at Penn State University Fayette campus on Wednesday, Feb. 28, 2024, in Uniontown.
4
news
Penn State’s current campus ecosystem is ‘not sustainable,’ commonwealth campus chancellor says
U.S. Steel's Edgar Thomson Plant in Braddock. Workers penned an open letter this week making it clear that they want the steelmaker to be sold to Nippon Steel, not domestic rival Cleveland-Cliffs.
5
business
Steelworkers make fresh plea to Trump to save U.S. Steel-Nippon deal
Jayne Miller, Pittsburgh Parks Conservancy president and CEO, right, answers several questions from city council members during a post agenda city council meeting regarding the Pittsburgh Parks Conservancy ballot question Wednesday at the City-County Building Downtown.  (Jessie Wardarski/Post-Gazette )
Dan Gilman, Mayor Peduto's Chief of Staff, responds to questions from Councilman Corey O'Connor regarding the Pittsburgh Parks Conservancy ballot question during a post agenda city council meeting, Wednesday, Sept. 11, 2019, at the City-County Building Downtown.  (Jessie Wardarski/Post-Gazette)
Councilwoman Deb Gross, right, asks questions specifically of Dan Gilman, Mayor Peduto's chief of staff, regarding the Pittsburgh Parks Conservancy ballot question during a post agenda city council meeting Wednesday at the City-County Building Downtown.  (Jessie Wardarski/Post-Gazette)
Jessie Wardarski/Post-Gazette
Advertisement
LATEST local
Advertisement
TOP
Email a Story