Pittsburgh Budget: Learn About the Process
Learn how the City's Office of Management and Budget is creating a shared language with residents for how the City’s budgets are aligned to community priorities
What are Pittsburgh’s budget priorities
The budget is one of the most powerful tools for influencing change. If you want to know what a city’s priorities are, look at how it plans to spend its money.
The City of Pittsburgh is committed to spending valuable tax-payer funds in the most strategic and fiscally responsible way. The City has developed priorities to strategically align resources (money) towards outcomes that provide the greatest impact for residents and the community. These priorities include:
- Safe Neighborhoods - Infrastructure, Housing, Environment and Lifelong Learning
- Welcoming Communities - Resident Empowerment, Cultural Celebration and Social Fulfillment
- Thriving People - Economic Mobility, Physical Mobility, Critical Community and Equity
How the City budget is developed
Preparation
- Each spring, the Mayor refines the administration’s public priorities
- In the summer, the City holds community engagement sessions
- Departments submit formal proposals to OMB
- OMB and the Mayor’s Office analyze each proposal and, if approved, work them into a draft of the budget
Approval
- The Mayor presents the budget to City Council in November
- City Council approve the budget by the end of December
Implementation
- The budget goes live January 1 each year
Evaluation
- OMB and departments monitor budget to actuals throughout the year
- Projects may be adjusted based on changing needs
What is special about Pittsburgh’s budgeting process
A city like Pittsburgh has strong public mandates, ambitious goals, and a clear vision – but all governments need funds to make anything happen. This is why we are reorienting the budget to look at individual programs and services and see how they relate to the Mayor’s goals. Through this process we are able to find efficient ways to reallocate resources towards achieving priority outcomes.
Benefits of our Priority Based Budgeting approach:
- Save money by moving away from outdated programs or processes.
- Evaluate how programs and services align and support priority outcomes
- Partner with providers to share the cost of some programs and services.
- Generate revenue through entrepreneurship.
- Invest wisely in high-impact initiatives.
- Fuel resources towards achieving city and community priorities
Just over 300,000 people live in Pittsburgh’s 90 neighborhoods. The City of Pittsburgh government provides services to each of these residents. The government consists of 28 departments, offices, and bureaus with over 3,000 employees.
ResourceX supports local governments to strategically align resources with community outcomes. Through Priority Based Budgeting (PBB) methodology and software, local governments are accelerating data-driven decision making and budgeting to align resources towards society’s biggest challenges. Providing a platform to fund equity initiatives, climate action plans, and a fiscally sustainable future for residents and the community.
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