Pursuing a comprehensive public health approach to crime and public safety, adding to Allegheny County’ stock of affordable and transitional housing, and establishing a baseline for property tax values. Those are all part of Sara Innamorato’s plans to create what the Democratic nominee for county executive calls a “county for all.”
Ms. Innamorato, a staunch progressive and former state representative, won the crowded May Democratic primary and has been looking to build on that momentum through the fall by gathering continued support from local labor unions and other progressive elected officials. She faces Republican nominee Joe Rockey, a former PNC executive who has campaigned as a “centrist.”
‘Investing in communities’ to reduce crime
In a recent poll of Allegheny County voters conducted by Pittsburgh Works Together, a coalition of local business and labor interests, about 43% said public safety is the most important problem facing the county. Ms. Innamorato has promised to “tackle the root causes of violent crime,” which she says would include expanding drug and mental health treatment services.
Ms. Innamorato’s approach to improving public safety is what she calls a “comprehensive public health” approach to public safety — rather than a singular focus on increased policing.
This approach, Ms. Innamorato has said, relies on funding “proven strategies that recognize the many factors that influence criminal behavior.” Those include pre-arrest diversion programs and adding social workers to police units to help respond to mental health-related 911 calls. Ms. Innamorato has also called for greater mental health resources — particularly for Black and brown youth — and for providing more resources to people struggling with drug addiction.
“Investing in communities, investing in housing, investing in green space reduces crime in our communities,” she said in April.
Ms. Innamorato has also said she supports gun buyback programs to reduce the number of firearms on the streets. And during a candidates forum in May, she said she would leverage relationships with state lawmakers in Harrisburg to “pass comprehensive, evidence-based gun regulation policies.”
But stricter gun laws have long faced resistance in Harrisburg, where Republicans control the Senate and Democrats have only a one-seat majority in the House. In her time as a state representative, Ms. Innamorato was a sponsor, but not the prime sponsor, on three pieces of firearms-related legislation, none of which have made it out of committee.
Ms. Innamorato has not elaborated on how exactly she would convince lawmakers to pass new gun control measures from outside the Capitol when she didn’t do so from inside.
Affordable housing ‘front and center’
A core focus of Ms. Innamorato’s campaign has been creating more affordable housing, as well as transitional and emergency housing to help combat homelessness. In January, the county estimated there were about 900 people staying in emergency shelters or experiencing homelessness.
County and city officials have been considering how best to create more shelters and housing for these people, particularly after the closure of a Downtown shelter in June.
Ms. Innamorato has promised that “housing is going to be front and center in our administration.”
“We need more shelter beds,” she said on WESA in August. “We need them to be low barrier, and we need to build out our mental health care structure.”
Ms. Innamorato said she would start a “comprehensive planning process” to develop a housing plan, including a “housing needs assessment” to determine what areas need more affordable housing and where mixed-income housing would be best.
She has been vice chair of the Allegheny County Housing Authority for the past four years, and she wants the authority and the county to work together to secure federal funding to improve housing in the region.
Ms. Innamorato has also been a proponent of transit-oriented development — encouraging developers to create affordable housing along already existing transit lines.
Supporting a county-wide property reassessment
As thousands of property assessment appeals play out in court, the next county executive will face pressure to conduct a county-wide reassessment — and pressure from elsewhere not to. The county hasn’t reassessed on a large scale since 2012, and doing so could mean bigger tax bills for some property owners.
With a benchmark assessment from a decade ago, the county has been using what’s known as a common-level ratio to determine property values. Last year, a county judge ruled that the county’s ratio had been miscalculated and inflated, and the judge lowered it. In March, that ruling was affirmed by a state court.
Ms. Innamorato supports doing a new county-wide reassessment. Mr. Rockey opposes that.
“A lack of regular property reassessments disproportionately burdens middle-class, low-income, and Black families — we need to do a new assessment here in Allegheny County,” she said on social media in April. “We need to create a transparent, regular, and unbiased system to address the current inequity.”
During a debate Thursday, Ms. Innamorato softened her stance, saying the county needs to design a new system, and that if in that redesign it is determined a reassessment is needed, she would support one.
Experts say that the sooner a reassessment is complete, the better.
“I’ve always believed the longer you wait to have a reassessment… if you don’t update your values, you’re asking for trouble,” said Mike Suley, a newly appointed member of the Allegheny County Board of Property Assessment Appeals and Review, who has worked on the issue for nearly 30 years.
Those opposed to a county-wide reassessment have raised concerns about people’s tax bills increasing. And while there “will be sticker shock,” Mr. Suley said, it’s likely that about one-third of people will see an increase in their taxes, a third will see a decrease, and a third won’t see any change at all.
Regardless of who wins the election though, the county executive’s position could be a moot point, Mr. Suley said.
As the appeals process plays out, the county and local school districts could be on the hook for millions of dollars in tax refunds, and the lower the common-level ratio, the less tax revenue for those entities. Those two factors combined could lead school districts to take legal action against the county — and lead to a court-ordered reassessment.
‘A highly specialized, publicly run juvenile detention facility’
Ever since the 2021 closure of the Shuman Juvenile Detention Center, local officials have discussed next steps ranging from a privatized facility to no facility at all.
Earlier this month, Fifth Judicial District of Pennsylvania announced that the Shuman Center would reopen under the management of Adelphoi, a Latrobe-based social services provider — a decision Ms. Innamorato and Mr. Rockey have both criticized. Ms. Innamorato told WESA that she was “shocked” by the contract.
“We must prioritize getting the children out of the Allegheny County Jail and into a highly specialized, publicly run juvenile detention center focused on rehabilitation and reconnection to the community,” she said.
But during Thursday’s debate, she said she would support using an outside contractor temporarily to get the facility reopened “as quickly as possible.”
During a candidates forum in March, Ms. Innamorato said that if the county was going to operate a youth facility, it should be non-carceral.
In April, she said, “We can have a space that is separate from the {Allegheny County Jail]... where they can wait if they’re going to trial and moving through that system, but then we also need to have facilities that are separate from that.”
On her website, she has advocated for the creation of “youth-focused centers” that don’t require kids to interact with the criminal justice system to receive services and focuses on reconnecting them to their communities and families.
Part of that would entail convening a coalition of experts to to “provide an action plan on steps toward opening a safe, restorative trauma-informed space towards divergent pathways for youth,” her website says.
Hallie Lauer: hlauer@post-gazette.com
Correction: An earlier version of this article misstated who made the announcement regarding the reopening of the Shuman Center.
First Published: September 28, 2023, 9:30 a.m.
Updated: September 29, 2023, 1:47 p.m.
