We also released the 2024 Popular Annual Financial Report, a user-friendly guide to City finances designed to make our government more accessible to everyone. You can read the full report here:

Today I provided a mid-year update on City finances. As we head into tough budgetary years, it’s especially important that we be honest about the City’s finances so we can continue to keep people safe and provide the essential services that residents rely on.

Looking forward to participating in Pedal Pittsburgh next month @BikePGH! You can register here:

With heat breaking records and hydration being a basic public good, this remains a serious issue. We’ll continue monitoring and pushing for reliable access to drinking water in every neighborhood. You can read the full report here:

Our inspectors visited 28 fountains across Pittsburgh in June:. ✅16 were working (57%).❌12 were still off (43%). We retested all 20 fountains that we inspected last year:. ✅2 that were off are now working.❌3 that were working last year are now off.

Last summer, our office raised concerns about the City’s water fountains and the fact that just one plumber was responsible for turning on over 200 of them. This year, the City has 3 plumbers and 1 apprentice on staff. But how are we doing in the neighborhoods?

Debate is necessary in the budgeting process. Everyone should ask questions and press for answers.

Our office has asked questions and tried to instigate public discourse, which is needed to inform the ongoing conversation regarding how to best use public funds.

FYI - No one is trying to raid the Stop the Violence account. More than $15m remains available for purposes in alignment with the vision of violence prevention.

As the bill heads back to the House, I urge them: choose Pittsburgh over politics. Vote no. Because there is nothing beautiful about a bill that burdens working families, and nothing responsible about passing the costs down to cities already stretched thin.

Our congressional delegation faces a clear choice: either pass reckless legislation that deepens hardship or reject this bill and demand real solutions that lower costs, invest in people, and strengthen communities.

If this bill becomes law, and Pennsylvania loses hundreds of millions in SNAP funding, if our hospitals are flooded with patients without insurance, it won’t be Washington bearing the brunt. It will be Pittsburgh.

Instead, it punishes those who need help most and leaves cities like Pittsburgh scrambling to pick up the pieces.

It also fails to deliver on the real problems Americans are asking Congress to solve: the rising cost of living, the erosion of the middle class, and the disinvestment in local communities.

This bill is not reform. It is redistribution in the wrong direction. It hands massive tax cuts to the wealthy while cutting programs that Pittsburghers rely on. It increases the very inequalities that are fueling frustration across the country.

As a result, it costs more to repair bridges, build affordable housing, or upgrade fire stations. Local taxpayers end up paying more while receiving fewer services.

When the federal government runs up deficits, interest rates rise. That makes it more expensive for cities like Pittsburgh to borrow.

That is nearly $1 trillion more than the House version. Add in another $3 to $5 trillion in unpaid tax cuts, and this becomes the most fiscally irresponsible measure I have seen in my career.

You might think that if this bill cuts so many benefits, at least it helps reduce the deficit. It does not. The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office projects it will increase the national debt by $3.3 trillion between 2025 and 2034.

If the state cannot cover that cost, it may be forced to leave the program entirely, cutting off food aid for hundreds of thousands of residents.