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An Ordinance of the County of Allegheny, Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, directing that a referendum question regarding amendment of Article IV, Section 2.m. of the Home Rule Charter of Allegheny County to provide for elimination of the Port Authority of Allegheny County be placed on the November 4, 2008 General Election ballot.
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Whereas, the Port Authority of Allegheny County is specifically delineated with ยง5-203.01.B. of the Administrative Code of Allegheny County as a County Authority, "created by Allegheny County for the performance of important governmental functions; and
Whereas, according to published reports, the Port Authority of Allegheny County has retained a local law firm to conduct lobbying work on its behalf through 2009, at a cost of $750,000, and is currently considering spending up to $400,000 more to retain as many as three other lobbying firms; and
Whereas, this expenditure of as much as $1.150 million dollars or revenue derived from public transportation riders, who in many cases are least able to afford the burden of the Authority's lobbying bills, and the taxpayers of the County and Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, comes at a time at which the Authority plans to borrow $21 million from special capital accounts to cover the costs of overspending during the Authority's 2007-08 fiscal year; and
Whereas, in addition, the Authority in July plans to approve the next two phases of the North Shore Connector project, even though this will push the project past its $435 million budget; and
Whereas, in addition, bids for the Authority's North Shore T station currently exceed the Authority's project budget by roughly 33 percent, while bids to replace the Gateway Center T station are roughly 40 percent over the Authority's project budget, representing a combined $23.7 million in budget overruns for just these two projects; and
Whereas, it is the judgment of Council that the Authority's history of questionable fiscal judgme...
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