Mayor Corey O’Connor’s administration detailed budget amendments to Pittsburgh City Council Tuesday that would add $28 million in spending to the plan council passed in December, paid for mostly by drawing from the city’s reserve fund.
O’Connor and his staff have maintained that the changes represent spending that was already set to occur this year but was not properly accounted for when the budget was prepared by former Mayor Ed Gainey. That document, O’Connor said, underestimated spending on bridge maintenance, fuel, snow removal, city employee health care and legal judgments, among other areas.
If adopted, the amendments will change the city’s projection for this year from an operating surplus of $15.6 million to a deficit of $6.5 million — even before taking into account transfers of more than $30 million to funds related to capital projects, affordable housing and violence prevention…