Pittsburgh City Council to scale back pay raises for themselves

Julia Felton | Friday, February 4, 2022 3:56 p.m.

Tom Davidson | Tribune-Review

Pictured are the doors to Pittsburgh City Council chambers at the City-County Building in Downtown Pittsburgh.

Pittsburgh City Council will consider a measure to scale back a proposed pay increase for themselves.

Council members — who made $72,000 last year — were set to make $83,000 in 2022. The pay increase was placed in the 2022 budget by former Mayor Bill Peduto’s office, City Council President Theresa Kail-Smith said.

New legislation sponsored by Kail-Smith would reduce the pay raise to about $74,337 — an 3.2% increase over last year’s pay.

This comes after City Council earlier in the week said they were freezing their pay raise until they could confer with the city’s legal department and other officials.

Kail-Smith defended the added pay, saying they needed to ensure the position was compensated well enough to entice talented people to run for office. Councilwoman Deb Gross also noted that about half of the city’s employees made more than council members, based on data from 2020.

City Council Budget Manager Michael Strelic said council has had the authority to authorize pay increases for several years, though it hasn’t done so.

Kail-Smith called for a special meeting at 1 p.m. Saturday to discuss amending the city’s budget to bring council members’ pay to around $74,337.