Pittsburgh City Council gave preliminary approval Wednesday to several proposed changes to next year’s budgets, including measures that would again revise the city’s American Rescue Plan Act spending plan and give themselves a pay raise.

Mayor Ed Gainey last month introduced a 2023 budget for American Rescue Plan Act funding that called for allocating $7 million for the city’s land bank and $3 million for a food justice fund. Initially, he had suggested a $10 million allocation for the land bank, but later suggested taking $3 million of that cash for the food justice fund, which had received widespread support.

Council on Tuesday gave preliminary approval to a plan that would’ve kept the $3 million food justice fund and refunded the land bank by pulling $3 million from an LED streetlight project.

That plan also called for taking the last $1 million earmarked for the LED streetlight project to fund an initiative Councilman Bobby Wilson introduced this week that would aim to reduce medical debt for low-income city residents.

After debating that plan Tuesday, council members voted in support of giving $10 million to the land bank, $3 million to the food justice fund and $1 million to the debt relief program, leaving the LED streetlight program completely defunded.

Council President Theresa Kail-Smith and council members Bruce Kraus and Deb Gross voted against that proposal.

On Wednesday, council gave preliminary approval to yet another iteration of the city’s ARPA spending plan for next year.

As it now stands, the Land Bank would receive only $7 million, while the food justice fund would get $3 million, the medical debt program would get $1 million and the LED streetlight project would keep $3 million.

This comes after the Land Bank already approved a $10 million spending plan for their previously budgeted ARPA allocation.

“I think all of us want to do what’s right for everyone,” Kail-Smith said. “We’re sitting here pitting one need against another. It’s just terrible.”

Kail-Smith said she understood the needs for all of the projects suggested for ARPA funding and lamented that there wasn’t more funding available from the county, state or federal government or other sources.

She said she would like to look over the budget again to try to find additional funding to provide the city’s land bank with the full $10 million it was initially budgeted to receive.

She also raised concerns that council members had not yet had an opportunity to talk with representatives of RIP Medical Debt, the company that Wilson has proposed partnering with for the medical debt relief program. Regarding the food justice fund, she said she didn’t like that there wasn’t a concrete plan to spend the cash or a clear definition of how council would oversee the money.

Councilman Ricky Burgess expressed concerns about pulling any money away from the land bank, which aims to bolster the city’s affordable housing stock.

“We have a housing crisis in the city of Pittsburgh,” Burgess said. “That crisis has been documented and is severe. To take money away from affordable housing in this crisis atmosphere disproportionately hurts African Americans, disproportionately hurts the poor.”

Burgess said he was supportive of other proposed uses for ARPA money, but disliked the idea of pulling cash from the land bank to fund them.

Kraus has repeatedly said he was not in favor of defunding the LED streetlight project, given repeated requests from his constituents to increase the number of streetlights in neighborhoods he represents.

Ultimately, council voted to amend the ARPA spending plan again Wednesday, though Kail-Smith and Kraus voted against the changes.

The measure is slated for a final vote Monday, though council could make additional amendments to it then ahead of their vote.

City Council unanimously supported the capital and operating budgets — with amendments they had discussed Tuesday — in a preliminary vote. Those budgets also are slated for a final vote Monday, but can be changed before the vote.

One amendment unanimously approved Wednesday would give council members a 6% pay increase.

Officials said during Wednesday’s meeting that it was a 3% pay raise, but Kail-Smith later confirmed they had voted on a 6% jump.

The city’s roughly 700 other nonunion employees are set to get a 3% pay increase next year.

This comes after council members last year had to scale back their proposed pay increases because of a stipulation in the city’s home rule charter that doesn’t allow council members to get a larger pay hike than average city employees. Last year, their raise ultimately was just over 6%.

Council members currently make $76,544.

During discussions about the city’s fee structures for next year, Kail-Smith said she was not pleased with some of the fees the city charges residents – particularly fees associated with residential permits from the Department of Permits, Licenses and Inspections. She also argued that the fees to rent sites in the city’s parks are too pricey.

Shelters in the city’s parks can cost anywhere from $130 a day to $375 a day to rent, according to the city’s fee schedule.

Kail-Smith added that the costs for residents to get permits for basic work on their homes can be a “ridiculously long and expensive process.”

Many of the fees proposed for 2023 are the same as 2022, though Kail-Smith said she feels existing fees are too steep.

“We are nickel-and-diming people to death,” she said.

Sarah Kinter, the director of the Department of Permits, Licenses and Inspections, said the fees are “meant to recoup the costs of our work.”

Kail-Smith abstained from a preliminary vote on the fee schedule Wednesday. The measure received preliminary approval from other council members and will be ready for a final vote Monday.

City Council also gave preliminary approval Wednesday to a change in the way money in the Stop the Violence trust fund must be allocated.

Currently, no more than 20% of the money held in the trust fund can be spent on internal operations such as the Office of Community Health and Safety, while the remaining 80% must be given to outside community organizations.

Legislation advanced Wednesday would allow the city to use up to 40% of that money for internal operations.

City Council will host a public hearing Saturday to gather input from residents on recent amendments to the budget ahead of a final vote next week.

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