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An Ordinance amending the Administrative Code of Allegheny County, §5-801.05, entitled "Public Hearings," in order to establish a uniform mechanism for fostering transparency regarding County salary budgeting.
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WHEREAS, pursuant to the Home Rule Charter of Allegheny County, Article IV, §2(c), Allegheny County Council is specifically vested with the power and duty to "[a]dopt balanced annual operating and capital budgets as provided in Article VII"; and
WHEREAS, pursuant to Article VII of the Charter, Council is required to, inter alia, conduct at least two public hearings on the operating and capital budgets no less than two weeks before they are adopted, and Council is expressly forbidden from adopting the operating and capital budgets until after these public hearings are conducted; and
WHEREAS, the provisions of the Charter regarding the budget hearings are re-stated and expanded upon in §5-801.05 of the Administrative Code; and
WHEREAS, in addition to the Charter's provisions, §5-801.05 expressly requires that copies of the proposed operating and capital budgets be made available to the public at least one week prior to the budget public hearings, and that summaries of the proposed and adopted budgets and the budget message be made available to the public, as well; and
WHEREAS, it is the judgment of Council that it is clear that the intent of both the Charter and Code is for the budget process to be both transparent and accessible to the public; and
WHEREAS, in 2019, salaries and pay for County personnel were planned to amount to $329,979,190, or just over 41% of the County's total planned expenditures of $802,896,368 (2019 Allegheny County Comprehensive Fiscal Plan, p. 6); and
WHEREAS, in 2020, salaries and pay for County personnel were planned to amount to $343,237,280, or just over 41.3% of the County's total planned expenditures of $830,421,505 (2020 Allegheny County Comprehensive Fiscal Plan, p.6); and
WHEREAS, from 2019 to 2020...
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