Pittsburgh City Council's pay raise scaled back because of home-rule charter

Pittsburgh City Council members adjusted the amount of their pay raise approved in a special meeting Saturday because the initial amount conflicted with the city’s home rule charter, City Councilman Anthony Coghill said.

Coghill said the original proposal to increase council members’ pay from $72,000 to $83,000 — a more than 15% jump — was not in line with the city’s home rule charter. Council members, taking advice from their solicitor and the city solicitor — therefore scaled back their pay raise during a special meeting on Saturday.

Council members ultimately voted to give themselves a 6.3% pay increase, bringing their annual salary to $76,544, about $4,500 more than they made last year.

“The way (the home rule charter) reads is that we’re not to get a pay raise higher than the average city pay raise,” Coghill said. “That’s how we came to that number.”

Council members’ pay raise, Coghill said, is “a little bit lower” than the average pay raise for city employees.

City Council deliberated on the final number in an executive session that was not open to the public Saturday.

The initial pay increase — which would’ve brought council members’ salaries to $83,000 — had been incorporated into the 2022 budget by former Mayor Bill Peduto. Coghill said he didn’t know who was responsible for making sure the pay raise was in line with the city’s charter.

Saturday marked the last day that the budget was open for such changes, Coghill said, meaning council could not simply wait until their next regularly scheduled meeting on Tuesday to make the adjustment.

City Council does not often meet on Saturdays. Last year, they hosted two meetings on weekends. The first was one of two public hearings to discuss the American Rescue Plan, and the second was one of several public hearings about the potential annexation of Wilkinsburg.

Council members have said the process of instituting a pay increase has been transparent, as the public had opportunities to view and comment on the budget before it was passed. Council President Theresa Kail-Smith previously said that council members never heard any concerns about the proposed pay increase.

Coghill and other members of council have said that, without a pay raise, the position may not pay well enough to attract talented individuals to run for office. Councilwoman Deb Gross has said that about half of the city’s employees made more than council members, according to data from 2020.

Kail-Smith, who called for Saturday’s meeting, did not immediately respond to requests for comment on the adjusted pay raise.