Pittsburgh City Council To Hold Special Meeting On Saturday, Expected To Address Pay Raise Controversy
PITTSBURGH (KDKA) -- Pittsburgh City Council is holding a special public meeting on Saturday afternoon.
Political editor Jon Delano, who has been closely following the council's pay raise controversy, says the likely agenda item is council's 22 percent pay raise.
On Friday afternoon, a notice was posted on Twitter by the city clerk, advising that Pittsburgh City Council President Theresa Kail-Smith scheduled a special meeting on Saturday on "personnel matters."
Saturday is the last day the city budget is open, so if a change is to be made to council's $16,000 pay raise, it makes sense to hold a special meeting like this.
At Tuesday's council meeting, at the suggestion of Councilman Anthony Coghill, Kail-Smith froze council's pay pending a review by the city solicitor on whether council violated the city home rule charter that limits pay raises for elected officials to the average pay increases received by all city workers.
City Controller Michael Lamb first raised this legal issue.
Delano: Have city employees received a 22 percent pay in their pay last year?
Lamb: Of course not. The average increase last year was somewhere around 3 percent.
Council met privately on Wednesday with City Solicitor Krysia Kubiak, and sources tell KDKA that council expects her to find that a 22 percent pay raise is not allowed under the charter. If true, the Saturday meeting gives council the chance to reverse the pay raise while the budget is still open.
"This council has never wanted to jeopardize or go against the city charter. We took an oath to uphold it, and that's what we intend to do. And if it turns out we go back to $72,000, that's what we'll do," Kail-Smith told council on Tuesday.
Council will meet at 1 p.m. on Saturday. Citizens have until noon on Saturday to sign up to make comments.
