Spending plan for Pittsburgh's $10.8M parks tax fund unveiled

Pittsburgh City Council on Tuesday introduced a proposed spending plan for the fund created through the city’s new parks tax.

The trust fund is projected to contain $10.8 million at the start of next year. Any money remaining in it at the end of the year can be carried over into the next year.

Under the fund’s proposed budget, money would be allocated for upgrades at several city parks, including:

• $300,000 for Oakwood Playground in Oakwood.
• $884,205 for the Moore Recreation Building in Brookline’s Moore Park.
• $225,000 for Upper McKinley Playground in Beltzhoover.
• $750,000 for East Hills Park in East Hills.
• $500,000 for Chadwick Playground in Lincoln-Lemington-Belmar.
• $650,000 for Spring Hill Park in Spring Hill.
• $900,000 for Manchester Spray Park.
• $200,000 for Manchester Field in Manchester.

The proposed budget also includes $400,000 for the construction at Lawrenceville’s Arsenal Park, including restoration of a historic stone wall, a playground, a picnic shelter, an outdoor classroom and other park amenities.

The budget calls for spending an estimated $250,000 on lights and $50,000 on bleachers at a new dek hockey rink in Lincoln Place, as well as $175,000 for upgrades to pool lockers and another $175,000 for fitness equipment citywide.

More than $1.6 million is budgeted to buy equipment for the Department of Public Works, including tractors, mowers, dump trucks and pickup trucks.

The proposed budget was introduced by Councilman R. Daniel Lavelle without discussion Tuesday. It was created as part of Mayor Bill Peduto’s 2022 budget.

The measure could be ready for a final vote in two weeks.

The 0.5-mill parks tax, approved by city voters in 2019, is meant to increase funding for Pittsburgh’s parks. City officials began collecting the tax this year, before finalizing specific plans regarding how officials could use the trust fund that held the cash.

City Council last month created the Pittsburgh Parks Trust Fund for that money. City Council has to approve how money in the fund is used each year, a measure some council members said would provide transparency on how the tax dollars are spent. Before that, there was no mechanism for using the money.

The fund can be used for things like improvement, maintenance and operations of parks; improvements to park safety; and provisions for equitable funding of parks. The money could also be used as matching funds for grants.

The parks tax has generated some controversy, with three council members voting against plans to begin collecting the tax, calling it an added burden on homeowners and renters, many of whom may have been confronted with new or exacerbated financial hardships in the midst of the covid-19 pandemic.

Once officials began collecting the tax, there was debate as to how it should be divvied up among the city’s parks. City Council previously rejected a proposal to evenly divide the funds about the city’s nine council districts after some council members said they felt parks in poorer communities were in greater need.