Pittsburgh and the Rivers Casino struck a deal to keep $10 million in gambling revenue flowing to the city budget, said Mayor Bill Peduto.
"Without that agreement in place, this budget would have had to be drastically different," Peduto said Monday while presenting his $539.3 million fiscal 2017 spending and capital plans to the City Council.
Pennsylvania's Supreme Court two months ago nullified the annual tax casinos pay host communities, jeopardizing the annual payment. The deal with Rivers buys a year's worth of time while state lawmakers in Harrisburg debate a new tax law.
"To reinforce Rivers Casino's strong commitment to our hometown, we have worked collaboratively with city officials to ensure that $10 million in annual local share payments from Rivers Casino to Pittsburgh will continue uninterrupted through 2017," casino general manager Craig Clark said in a statement.
Peduto said his proposed budget furthers the city's goal of emerging from state fiscal oversight by 2019. It contains no tax increases, brings police to full staffing for the first time in 14 years and adds 20 emergency medical technicians.
Pittsburgh has operated under two financial oversight boards: the Intergovernmental Cooperation Authority since 2004, and the state-run Act 47 workout program for distressed communities since 2003.
The spending and capital budgets parallel those it submitted in September to the ICA, which granted conditional approval last month. The council must act on the spending plans by Dec. 31.
Peduto's proposed $74 million capital program, which budgets $30 million from bonding, includes $15.1 million for street paving and $12.6 million for facility improvements, including public safety.
The operating budget, said Peduto, includes the creation of a Department of Mobility and Infrastructure to coordinate transportation planning citywide.
"No matter what mobility they use, whether it's a car, a bus, an autonomous vehicle, a bike, they walk, they have needs … our transportation and the mobility around this city is based upon all of them," Peduto told reporters at City Hall.
In the early 2000s, the city flirted with bankruptcy and rating agencies dropped its bonds to junk. Pittsburgh has since received numerous upgrades, most recently in early 2014 when S&P Global Ratings elevated its general obligation rating to A-plus.
Moody's Investors Service revised its outlook to positive on Pittsburgh GOs in October 2014 while maintaining its A1 rating. Fitch Ratings assigns an A rating and stable outlook.
