Debt Management Ordinance
Posted by Bill Peduto
Pittsburgh’s checkered past when it comes to debt is well-known to many of you who remember the Act 47 takeover by the state and the fight over the Ravenstahl Administration’s attempt to privatize our parking assets. We have finally been able to wrangle control of our debt and the outlook is, while still not perfect, better than it has been in many years. Debt is not necessarily a bad thing for a City that wants to invest for its future and lay the groundwork for long-term growth, but it is a tool that must be used carefully and sparingly. Since the Act 47 takeover, the state oversight body has asked the City to implement a debt management policy to ensure that decisions made regarding the issuance of debt are not made lightly and that there are clear policies that must be followed. This month, I introduced a strong, clear debt management policy today that will achieve these goals.
My Debt Management Policy pulls together recommendations from the Government Finance Officers Association (GFOA), an international body of experts in municipal finance, as well as best practices from other cities to put in place clear boundaries for how and under what circumstances the City can take on more debt. We must be sure that debt is only being used to fund long-term projects that will benefit the entire City and that these investments will pay off in the future. The legislation will also allow the Council to bring in an independent financial advisor to provide an assessment of any potential debt deal and make the findings public.
With this legislation in place not only will one of the unmet conditions of our Act 47 plan finally be met, but the citizens of Pittsburgh will know that important financial decisions are being made with a clear policy in place and that they are being made free from the influence of politics.
Tags: Bill Peduto, City, Debt Management Policy, Finances, Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh City Council
This entry was posted on Tuesday, November 15th, 2011 at 1:37 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
