Title
A Resolution of the County of Allegheny amending the Operating Budget for 2008.
Body
Whereas, the County Council adopted an annual operating budget for the County for the fiscal year beginning January 1, 2008 and ending December 31, 2008; and
Whereas, Article VII, Section 7 of the County's Home Rule Charter allows for the amendment of the County's annual operating budget; and
Whereas, the very existence of the Port Authority of Allegheny County is currently threatened by a combination of factors, including the expiration of the Authority's collective bargaining agreement with its represented employees and the lack of County matching revenues occasioned by the imposition of Executive Order 2007-1; and
Whereas, the County will, according to the budget estimates provided by the County Manager only a few weeks ago, collect nearly $44 million in drink and car rental taxes this year, with those taxes having been authorized specifically and solely to aid in obtaining financial assistance for transit systems within the County; and
Whereas, County Council, as part of the County's 2008 operating budget, appropriated drink and car rental taxes specifically for the purpose of providing local matching funds to the Port Authority, in accordance with the terms of Act 44 of 2007; and
Whereas, the Chief Executive and Council, in discussing these new taxes, repeatedly indicated that they were to be imposed for the purpose of salvaging the Port Authority, yet to date not a penny of the revenues derived from these taxes have been expended for that purpose; and
Whereas, the continued existence of the Port Authority in the face of the total lack of County funding is a condition that must be explained to Council, and this explanation must be made immediately, as some published estimates assert that the Authority could possibly be defunct next month, without any of the new tax revenues having been expended; and
Whereas, it is accordingly the judgment ...
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