Colin McNickle stories, Page 2
Colin McNickle: Allegheny County can, and must, pare its budget
With Allegheny County Chief Executive Sara Innamorato’s proposed 46.5% property tax increase to fund her 2025 budget an apparent dead letter, some County Council members say it’s time to look for cost savings. And with “austerity” appearing to be the council’s new buzzword — whether that’s for political expediency or...
Colin McNickle: Challenges abound converting offices to residential
Converting vacant office space into residential units supposedly has become all the rage in the post-pandemic era, in Pittsburgh and nationwide. But is it, really? And do such conversions make economic sense? That depends, says the president-emeritus of the Allegheny Institute for Public Policy. “There are several potentially serious obstacles...
Colin McNickle: Stadiums’ economic impacts laid bare
We all remember the hard sales pitch of nearly 30 years ago: The tax-our-way-to-prosperity crowd was pushing, if not attempting to shame, the public in 11 Southwestern Pennsylvania counties to vote for the misleadingly titled 1997 Regional Renaissance Initiative (RRI) referendum. A new and wondrous economic revival was promised for...
Colin McNickle: An unflattering portrait of Pittsburgh
Pittsburgh compares poorly to a composite of four cities that serve as a performance benchmark, concludes an updated analysis by the Allegheny Institute for Public Policy. “Pittsburgh’s lethargic emergence from the covid-19 pandemic … stood in stark contrast to the impressive recovery and improvement of the benchmark city,” say Eric...
Colin McNickle: PIT’s rising passenger count still trails national gains
While passenger levels at Pittsburgh International Airport recovered to May 2019 numbers this past May, they continued to lag the national upturn, says a researcher at the Allegheny Institute for Public Policy. “There is no escaping the fact that the strength of local economies is an important driver of air...
Colin McNickle: Throwing good money after bad at PRT
Pittsburgh Regional Transit (PRT) could receive millions of dollars more in state funding for its fiscal 2024-25 budget. But scholars at the Allegheny Institute for Public Policy say that would be imprudent. “PRT has been remarkably inefficient in the use of public dollars in comparison to transit agencies in other...
Colin McNickle: Higher office vacancy rates not confined to City of Pittsburgh
The City of Pittsburgh is not alone in its struggles with chronically high office vacancy rates. So, too, are Pittsburgh’s suburbs. And the same deleterious domino effect of the pandemic-fueled changed work habits, coupled with a lack of regular property assessments, could lead to the same serious challenges for suburban...
Colin McNickle: Voters should decide new ‘local option’ taxes
A bill introduced in the Pennsylvania General Assembly would allow all counties except Allegheny and Philadelphia to enact a 1% “local option” sales and use tax. But while the measure has just begun to wend its way through the law-making process, a scholar at the Allegheny Institute for Public Policy...
Colin McNickle: The vicious cycle of Greater Pittsburgh’s population loss
Pittsburgh cannot thrive without a growing population, concludes an analysis by the Allegheny Institute for Public Policy. “As population falls, so does the number of people available for the labor force,” says Frank Gamrat, executive director the Pittsburgh think tank. “Without a growing and strong labor force, the economy is...
Colin McNickle: Settle the assessments lawsuit, Allegheny County
The long-threatened lawsuit by Pittsburgh Public Schools to force Allegheny County to conduct a comprehensive property reassessment came to pass on April 8. And a scholar at the Allegheny Institute for Public Policy says the county should settle the matter without a court order. “The best course is for Allegheny...
Colin McNickle: Cassotis’ ‘facts’ and PIT’s realities
“Facts are stubborn things,” Founding Father John Adams reminded. “And whatever may be our wishes, our inclinations, or the dictates of our passion, they cannot alter the state of facts and evidence.” Allegheny County Airport Authority CEO Christina Cassotis would be wise to recall that astute axiom the next time...
Colin McNickle: Behind Pa.’s 2023 gambling numbers
Pennsylvania’s gambling revenues reached nearly $5.7 billion by the end of 2023. It’s the highest yearly total to date, up 9.3% from 2022. And taxes on that gambling brought in $2.3 billion in 2023, up 10% from $2.12 billion in 2022. But a researcher at the Allegheny Institute for Public...
Colin McNickle: PRT not worthy of proposed funding increase
Pittsburgh Regional Transit (PRT) would be in line for millions of new dollars in state funding in Gov. Josh Shapiro’s proposed fiscal 2024-25 budget, about $40 million by one estimate. But a scholar at the Allegheny Institute for Public Policy questions if such an increase is prudent. “This is the...
Colin McNickle: The manifest danger in Shapiro’s budget
Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro proposed spending tens of millions of dollars in commonwealth reserves during this year’s budget address. He wants to disburse the dollars to bolster spending on everything from economic development efforts, to public transit and public education, the courts forcing his hand on the latter. Shapiro has...
Colin McNickle: Data lacking on benefit of PIT’s international flight subsidies
An outre, as in curious, thing has happened in conjunction with all the happy talk that Pittsburgh International Airport (PIT) is rebounding just fine, thank you, from the covid-19 pandemic: No data have been released to support the contention that taxpayer-subsidized international flights have boosted the local economy, says Jake...
Colin McNickle: Westmoreland must conduct property reassessment
We often have opined about the deleterious effects of no regular property reassessments in Allegheny County for more than a decade. “Fairness” has become but a quaint notion. And the nose-thumbing to the state Constitution’s uniform taxation clause has been a breathtaking embarrassment. But in neighboring Westmoreland County, where there...
Colin McNickle: Opportunity in ‘jock tax’ demise
There’s a counterintuitive question for Pittsburgh officials in the aftermath of a second straight court ruling that struck as unconstitutional the city’s “jock tax,” says Eric Montarti, research director at the Allegheny Institute for Public Policy: Sans a successful state Supreme Court appeal, where will the city — instead of...
Colin McNickle: A textbook case for regular property reassessments
The dominos of government nonfeasance have begun to fall in Pittsburgh and Allegheny County. And the economic fallout could be catastrophic, says a researcher at the Allegheny Institute for Public Policy. “This situation underscores the importance of regular property assessments,” says Frank Gamrat, executive director of the Pittsburgh think tank....
Colin McNickle: Better ways for Pittsburgh to cull tax-exempt properties
A City of Pittsburgh effort to return properties to the tax rolls by challenging their tax-exempt status is paying dividends. But the research director of the Allegheny Institute for Public Policy says there are better, alternative actions that would bolster the city’s coffers even further. “Government-owned properties are included in...
Colin McNickle: Pittsburgh Public Schools must confront budget realities
Difficult decisions await Pittsburgh Public Schools (PPS) in 2024, says the research director of the Allegheny Institute for Public Policy. “PPS is again in a critical situation of its own making,” Eric Montarti says. “Keeping the commonwealth and the school district taxpayers in mind, the PPS board needs to begin...
Colin McNickle: The (still) high cost of PRT bus service
The cost to operate Pittsburgh Regional Transit (PRT) buses oftentimes exceeds seven other comparison transit agencies in the United States, except New York City, concludes a new analysis by the Allegheny Institute for Public Policy. But in one key metric, and when the cost of living in the respective comparison...
Colin McNickle: 4 must-dos for next Allegheny County executive
Allegheny County voters go to the polls on Tuesday to choose the first new chief executive (ACE) in 12 years. Over the past year, the Allegheny Institute for Public Policy has made four key recommendations that the incoming ACE must entertain. In 2024, the county government will use the budget...
Colin McNickle: Weak jobs & PIT numbers go hand in hand
Despite glowing reports touting increased international passenger counts (even though they remain a shadow of past performance), overall passenger numbers at Pittsburgh International Airport (PIT) remain weak. And weak local jobs numbers appear to be playing a role in that deficit, new research from the Allegheny Institute for Public Policy...
Colin McNickle: Reassessment key to fixing property tax inequities
Once again, the great hue and cry in quarters both government and political has become that conducting a property reassessment in Allegheny County would be an immorality bordering on a public policy atrocity that would only serve to gouge taxpayers and even retard economic growth. But the reality is quite...
Colin McNickle: Pa. taxpayers being railroaded again
A much-vaunted agreement to spend $200 million of public money to upgrade a Pennsylvania rail line — ostensibly to facilitate the expansion of Amtrak passenger rail service between Pittsburgh and New York City — sounds like a great deal. For the Norfolk Southern Railway, that is. But it’s a raw...
