A new Pittsburgh City Council measure ultimately could provide some relief for parents trying to pay for their children to play in local sports leagues.

During Wednesday’s City Council meeting, members discussed a resolution that, if approved, will transfer $410,000 from the city’s offices of Management and Budget and Parks and Recreation to the City Council Clerk’s Office. The money could then be used at each council person’s discretion to provide grants to community and sports groups.

“This is money that was always budgeted for the purpose of City Council to be able to give out small grants to community groups and youth sports leagues,” said Peter McDevitt, the Council’s budget director. “Now we’re just moving it into the City Council’s clerk’s budget so that it gives council members more discretion and there’s more transparency on how it’s being spent.”

The grants would each be less than $5,000, which means council members would not have to submit resolutions to have the spending approved. However, each transaction would still appear on the Council’s agenda as an invoice and would list how much and who was receiving the money.

Council members also would still have to vote to approve the spending.

Part of the purpose of this move is to make it easier for members to fund the groups they know are actively contributing to their communities.

Frequently, council members hear from local sports organizations asking if the city can donate equipment, Council President Theresa Kail-Smith said.

“We should be funding more for the kids in the city, and certainly if people don't realize it, we have not been funding these kids at all,” Councilwoman Deb Gross said. “So it falls on the parents ...That’s not equity.”

Ms. Gross said that she has seen different organizations try to raise money to cover the costs for kids whose parents couldn’t afford to pay for them to play. These grants from the city could help the groups do that.

“This is at least a start, but in a better system we would be covering these costs for these kids,” she said.

Councilman Anthony Coghill commended the resolution for its removal of “red tape” and said that he’d rather have “direct impact” on the groups in his district.

Councilman Bruce Kraus abstained from the preliminary vote “not against the spirit of the bill or what it hopes to accomplish,” but because of “a lack of criteria.”

Mr. Kraus raised concerns that the resolution, as it currently stands, did not lay out what types of organizations could apply for these grants or if they would have to show Council how they were spending the money.

A draft policy of guidelines, which would require the groups to be an established 501 (c) (3) nonprofit, is currently in the works, Mr. McDevitt said.

The draft also will include guidelines for how the money can be spent and instructions for the groups to report back to Council how it was spent, he explained.

“It’s really about good finance, good budgeting and accountability to taxpayers — whose money we are spending — to make certain that those who truly are most in need and deserving of the funds have a process by which they can acquire those funds … ” Mr. Kraus said “If we can establish that, I’ll be the first one to vote on it.”

Members gave the resolution preliminary approval and is likely to pass it during Tuesday’s council meeting.

Hallie Lauer: hlauer@post-gazette.com 

First Published: September 28, 2022, 8:18 p.m.