Pittsburgh City Council is considering spending $7 million over five years to extend a contract with a Pittsburgh-based firm that provides security at the City-County Building and other city sites.

The proposed contract would pay security guards a fraction of what guards are making at some county-owned facilities, according to Councilman Ricky Burgess of North Point Breeze.

In addition to the City-County Building, St. Moritz Security Services provides security guards at the city-owned 200 Ross St. building and sites such as Sue Murray Pool and the Homewood Senior Center, according to Public Safety Director Lee Schmidt.

Guards will provide security at the 412 Blvd. of the Allies building when the city opens its offices there, Schmidt said. The company also provides security at some city events, including Pittsburgh’s annual Fourth of July celebration, he added.

The contract does not specify a specific a number of guards that will provide security in the extended contract.

“It depends on the needs of the shifts and the locations,” said Charles Showers, the Department of Public Safety’s department business administrator.

The contract will cost the city about $1.2 million a year, which is “slightly higher” than the existing contract because of wage increases negotiated by the union that represents the security guards, Schmidt said.

The city pays the full bill for St. Moritz Security Services at the City-County Building, though the facility is shared with the county, he said. The county pays for other shared services, he said.

“I think they’re top-notch,” Councilman Anthony Coghill said of the security guards.

Schmidt said the guards would make about $18 an hour under the proposed contract.

Councilman Ricky Burgess said other security guards employed to do similar work at other county-owned buildings are paid significantly more, up to about $30 or $33 an hour.

“They do the exact same work as the people who work in this building, yet their pay is astronomically different,” Burgess said. “I think that’s inherently unfair.”

Burgess said he couldn’t necessarily fix the problem, but felt it was important to acknowledge the discrepancy. The guards who make more, he said, are in a different union that also represents correctional officers at Allegheny County Jail.

“The people here should make exactly the same as the people next door who are doing the exact same job for the exact same people,” he said.

In a preliminary vote Wednesday, council members unanimously voted in favor of the contract extension. A final vote is expected next week.

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