Pittsburgh could direct parking tax revenues to pension fund for another 5 years

Weeks after voting to remove a pension offset for city employees, Pittsburgh City Council is now considering a measure to extend the length of time it dedicates parking tax revenues to the pension fund by five years.

When council removed the pension offset, it dedicated an additional 10 years of parking tax revenue to the pension fund to cover the cost of removing the offset. Now, that jumps to 15 years.

The pension offset — which impacted city employees hired after June 30, 2004, with exceptions for firefighters, police and EMTs — called for a reduction in pension payments by 50% once a city employee reached maximum Social Security retirement age.

When Council voted to remove the offset for nonunion employees in late November, City Council Budget Director Bill Urbanic said that adding another 10 years would bring in an additional $45 million. That — along with increasing the amount that affected employees would pay into the pension plan from 4% of their wages to 6% — was expected to cover the cost of removing the offset, he said.

Legislation introduced Tuesday seeks to add an additional five years of parking tax revenue.

“The numbers weren’t accurate,” said Councilman R. Daniel Lavelle, chairman of the finance and law committee. “It’s an accounting adjustment.”

Urbanic did not immediately respond to questions from the Tribune-Review.

Removing the pension offset impacted about 400 city employees. It did not affect union workers, who would need to go through a separate process to have their pension offsets changed.

The measure was unanimously supported by City Council members who said the offset had been implemented during a time of financial hardship for the city. Now that Pittsburgh was on better financial footing, they said, it was time to ensure city employees could enjoy a stable retirement.

City Council voted unanimously Wednesday to recommend the proposal to add another five-year commitment from the parking tax. The measure could be ready for a final vote as early as next week.