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A Resolution of the Council of Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, requesting that the Allegheny County Controller perform audits of the Sports and Exhibition Authority of Pittsburgh and Allegheny County, Port Authority of Allegheny County, Allegheny County Airport Authority and Allegheny County Sanitary Authority with all deliberate speed, and authorizing the Controller to undertake such audits.
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WHEREAS, by Ordinance No. 35-07-OR effective October 19, 2007, County Council amended and supplemented the Allegheny County Code of Ordinances by establishing a new Article VI to Chapter 210 regarding the dissolution of County authorities; and
WHEREAS, the Allegheny County Airport Authority (the “Airport Authority”), the Allegheny County Sanitary Authority (“Alcosan”), the Port Authority of Allegheny County (the “Port Authority”) and the Sports and Exhibition Authority of Pittsburgh and Allegheny County (SEA) are four of the authorities subject to the Ordinance; and
WHEREAS, the Airport Authority, being vested with the Pittsburgh International Airport (“PIT”) and the County Airport; Alcosan, being vested with the County-wide sewage treatment facilities; the Port Authority, being vested with the exclusive responsibility to provide mass public transit throughout Allegheny County, and SEA, being vested with responsibility for some of the larges entertainment venues in the state, including Heinz Field, PNC Park and the David L. Lawrence Convention Center, control some of the County's largest and most significant facilities; and
WHEREAS, during the course of the Airport Authority's oversight, PIT had been beset with a series of fiscal setbacks, including the loss of hub status by U.S. Airways, the loss of thousands of jobs and hundreds of flights; and
WHEREAS, after more than eight years, the Airport Authority failed to reimburse the County, in full, for $42,500,000 in general obligation bonds the County issued relative to PIT, such that the principal sum of $22,600,000 remains due and owing; and
WHEREAS, Alcosan has, for years, been subject to an environmental enforcement action by the United States Department of Justice concerning Alcosan's failure to abate sanitary sewer overflow and Alcosan has been compelled to submit to a consent decree, which includes a civil fine of $1,200,000, and abatement costs, according to media reports, estimated to be in excess of $1 billion; and
WHEREAS, for decades the Port Authority has incurred significant and substantial operating deficits which have been subsidized annually by the taxpayers of Allegheny County, and for 2008, have required the imposition of a County “Drink Tax” and “Car Rental” tax, additional state subsidies and fare increases; and
WHEREAS, the SEA has overseen the public safety lapses and continued financial losses of the Convention Center for a period of years; and
WHEREAS, the Controller has already commenced an audit of SEA and is in the process of initiating an audit of Alcosan; and
WHEREAS, the foregoing raise the need for each of the Airport Authority, Alcosan, SEA and the Port Authority to be evaluated for purposes of dissolution or privatization of the facilities thereof; and
WHEREAS, returning the airport facilities to direct County control would enable the County to directly derive the benefit of the remaining $130.1 million in revenues from the State Economic Development and Tourism Fund that have already been budgeted by the state for Greater Pittsburgh International Airport over the next eleven years;
The Council of the County of Allegheny hereby resolves as follows:
Section 1.
Allegheny County Council hereby requests that the Allegheny County Controller perform audits of the Sports and Exhibition Authority of Pittsburgh and Allegheny County, Port Authority of Allegheny County, Allegheny County Airport Authority and Allegheny County Sanitary Authority with all deliberate speed, and authorizes the Controller to conduct such audits.
Section 2.
The Council specifically requests that the Controller's audits focus on an evaluation of the feasibility of returning Greater Pittsburgh International Airport to direct control by Allegheny County and the feasibility of merging the activities of the SEA related to the David L. Lawrence Convention Center with those of Visit Pittsburgh, and that the audits be completed no later than December 1, 2008.
Section 3.
In the event that the Controller performs one or more of the audits requested by this Motion, that Council shall schedule at least one public hearing on the topic of the audit(s) performed no later than November 1, 2008.
Section 4. If any provision of this Resolution shall be determined to be unlawful, invalid, void or unenforceable, then that provision shall be considered severable from the remaining provisions of this Resolution which shall be in full force and effect.
Section 5. Any Resolution or Ordinance or part thereof conflicting with the provisions of this Resolution is hereby repealed so far as the same affects this Resolution.