Mayor O'Connor wants to add $28 million in 2026 spending.

Three months into his term as mayor, Corey O’Connor wants to rewrite the city’s 2026 budget.

Council Member Erika Strassburger of Squirrel Hill North said the last time the city reopened the budget mid-year was in 2020 to adjust for the pandemic.

 Council addressed 75 requests from O’Connor during a special meeting April 8 that would add $28 million in city spending.

According to Rea Price, director of the Office of Management and Budget, one point of concern is restoring an “absolutely insolvent” healthcare trust fund.

The fund is typically used to pay monthly healthcare claims and is then reimbursed from each department’s operating budgets. Price said that $11 million in recent payments have had to come from elsewhere.

She said a $5 million drawdown last year and unspecified numerical errors contributed to the insolvency. The administration’s current request is a $3.5 million increase this year and another $3.5 million in 2027. In her previous experience, she said, the trust typically carries an $8 million balance as a cushion.

Another fund was created in 2010 as part of the state’s financial oversight of the city, Price said. The city made steady contributions to it until a few years ago with the fund’s board, rather than council, making spending decisions. That fund, Other Post Employment Benefits (OPEB) trust fund, also experienced a $5 million draw to pay for general city expenses last year.

Council Member Erika Strassburger of Squirrel Hill North said she would like to institute procedures in the budget process, such as intentionally asking about each trust fund, to try to prevent actions like this. 

During the meeting, Council Member Barb Warwick of Greenfield also proposed her own amendments to try to stop the administration’s cutting $4 million that was going to buy new emergency medical services vehicles. She said the city expects to spend $11 million repairing its aging fleet which would be reduced by buying new vehicles. 

Council voted down Warwick’s proposals.

Council will hold a public hearing on the budget changes Tuesday ahead of its final vote on Wednesday.