Pittsburgh Mayor Ed Gainey’s proposed operating and capital budgets for next year, released late Friday afternoon, do not call for any tax increases.

The preliminary budgets prioritize “investment in key neighborhood projects, core constituent services, expanded capacity to care for our city-owned bridges and enhanced public safety,” Gainey’s office said in a statement.

“We are committed to doing all we can to provide truly excellent core services while protecting our bridge infrastructure and furthering our work to make Pittsburgh the safest city in America,” the mayor said.

The budget includes transitioning non-emergency, non-law enforcement roles within the Pittsburgh Bureau of Police to civilian employees.

It also budgets for reopening the permit counter at 412 Boulevard of the Allies and increasing staff capacity in the departments of City Planning and Permits, Licenses and Inspections.

The capital budget designates more than $86.4 million to engineering and construction projects, including more than a dozen bridge projects.

More than $14 million is set aside in Gainey’s budget for improving recreation and senior centers, with an additional nearly $3.7 million for sports facilities and almost $7.6 million for park reconstruction projects.

The city’s street paving program would see an increase of more than $900,000 from this year’s budget, to $19 million, while an additional $927,000 would go toward traffic calming efforts, roughly a 44% increase from this year.

Public safety facilities would see nearly $7.5 million in improvements under Gainey’s budget, as well as an investment in uninterruptible power supplies that would allow public safety officials to continue working during power outages.

The budget also includes about $8.8 million for new vehicles and equipment. City officials have said Pittsburgh’s vehicle fleet — particularly public safety vehicles — are in dire need of upgrades, with some officials estimating that the city needed to spend about $24 million to update the entire fleet.

According to the mayor’s office, city officials would replace police cruisers “that have reached the end of their useful life cycle” and add 12 community service aides to the police bureau. The fire bureau will get 11 additional positions to reflect staffing needs, and the city is planning to increase its investments in co-response efforts.

Also included in the budget is money for a citywide comprehensive plan, expansion of a sidewalk repair pilot program and 15 new workers for the city’s refuse and recycling teams.

The 2024 budget will mark the final year that federal American Rescue Plan Act funding supports the city’s general fund operations.

Gainey’s administration will host five public meetings to discuss the preliminary budgets:

Wednesday, October 4 at 6 p.m. at Provident Charter School, 1500 Troy Hill Road in Troy Hill. Wednesday, October 11 at 6 p.m. at Kingsley Association, 6435 Frankstown Ave. in Larimer. Thursday, October 12 at 6:30 p.m. at Jeron X Grayson Center at 1852 Enoch St. in the Hill District. Monday, October 23 at 6 p.m. at Community of Change, 3622 Centralia St. in Chartiers City. Tuesday, October 24 at 6 p.m. at Pittsburgh Firefighters Local, 120 Flowers Ave. in Hazelwood.

The city’s operating and capital budgets are available online. The city also had online budget balancing tools and other information on its site.

Gainey is scheduled to present his proposed budgets to City Council on Nov. 13. City Council will then launch a weekslong public process that includes discussions of each city department’s budget. Council will have an opportunity to amend the budget before taking a final vote before the end of the year.

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