Colin McNickle stories, Page 7
Colin McNickle: Calling Pittsburgh Water & Sewer Authority to account
The long financially troubled and often politically hacked Pittsburgh Water & Sewer Authority (PWSA) faces a challenging road ahead as it attempts to cleanse its operations of past failures and meet new state oversight mandates, concludes an analysis by the Allegheny Institute for Public Policy. “(T)the scope of the PWSA’s...
Colin McNickle: Pittsburgh’s road out of coronavirus downturn
Wrestling with a serious coronavirus-induced revenue shortfall, the City of Pittsburgh must cut spending and cannot afford to raise taxes, conclude researchers at the Allegheny Institute for Public Policy. “Now would be a perfect time to look at money-saving proposals — such as privatization and outsourcing — to reduce city...
Colin McNickle: The dandelion that is a city-county merger
We’ve lost count of how many times the “we-know-better crowd” has proposed a Pittsburgh-Allegheny County merger. And never mind that it repeatedly, as it is said, “had no legs,” a new merger proposal has popped up like a stubborn crop of dandelions. “In short, in decades past and continuing through...
Colin McNickle: Coronavirus economic damage ‘real and enormous’
A rough estimate of coronavirus-related unemployment levels can be made for the Pittsburgh metro area based on data through the end of March. And it’s quite the sobering picture that’s certain to grow worse, says a scholar at the Allegheny Institute for Public Policy. “The economic deterioration resulting from the...
Colin McNickle: Pa.’s gambling dichotomy
The Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board reports that total gambling revenues increased by 4.5% in 2019 over 2018. The gain did not reflect any increase in the number of people playing traditional slot machines but rather the expansion of gaming options, scholars at the Allegheny Institute for Public Policy note. However,...
Colin McNickle: Legislature must act to salvage PASSHE
Problems continue to grow worse for the Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education (PASSHE). And there remains little doubt that dramatic changes are needed at several of the universities in the 14-school system, says a scholar at the Allegheny Institute for Public Policy. “It is time for the Legislature and...
Colin McNickle: The state of Pa.’s business climate
Pennsylvania businesses remained bullish in late 2019, according to the Lincoln Institute of Public Opinion Research. But a generally healthy state business climate comes with a host of other challenges mirrored in national findings, says a researcher at the Allegheny Institute for Public Policy. Thirty-eight percent of respondents to the...
Colin McNickle: Allegheny County’s real economic performance
Elected and appointed government officials have a troubling habit of engaging in what we’ll call “sound bite promotion.” They go on a radio or television program making wondrous claims of economic progress yet offer only vague support of those claims and seldom are challenged by their interviewers. Thus, for the...
Colin McNickle: Past time to fix property assessment/appeals mess
Much of the angst and legal wrangling over property assessments in Allegheny County and statewide could be eliminated by instituting mandatory regular reassessments that incorporate standardized norms, concludes an analysis by the Allegheny Institute for Public Policy. “The state should just end, or curtail appeals, by bringing Pennsylvania’s assessment practices...
Colin McNickle: Pittsburgh, by the financial numbers
While Pittsburgh’s financial situation has made significant and positive strides, there remain substantial concerns about the city’s economic and financial structure, concludes an analysis by the Allegheny Institute for Public Policy. “Debt outstanding is down but retirement benefit problems remain,” says Jake Haulk, president-emeritus of the Pittsburgh think tank. “Revenue...
Colin McNickle: Beef up ‘Local Share’ gambling dollars reporting
“Pursue your happiness,” read the “Welcome to Pennsylvania” interstate border signs. But “Pursue some transparency” would be a better slogan considering the commonwealth’s spotty record of holding accountable how some recipients of gambling taxes spend that money, finds an analysis by the Allegheny Institute for Public Policy. Keystone State gambling...
Colin McNickle: Negative job growth dogs Greater Pittsburgh
There has been lots of happy talk about Greater Pittsburgh’s supposed economic “resilience,” if not an outright “renaissance.” But the latest jobs report belies that notion and yet again exposes the many elephants in the room that continue to retard growth, concludes an analysis by scholars at the Allegheny Institute...
Colin McNickle: Port Authority’s (still) costly bus service
The latest available cost numbers are in for the Port Authority of Allegheny County’s bus service. They remain wholly unflattering. And that should raise new concerns as the mass-transit agency embarks on its highly touted Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) project, concludes a new analysis by the Allegheny Institute for Public...
Colin McNickle: New day ahead for Westmoreland transit
The new year will bring a major change in how the Westmoreland County Transit Authority (WCTA) operates. Instead of contracting out the operation of buses it owns, as it has for the past four decades, the authority will operate the mass transit agency itself, a la the Port Authority of...
Colin McNickle: Wolf spins tangled overtime threshold web
“Oh what a tangled web we weave when first we practice to deceive” was the admonition of Sir Walter Scott in his 1808 poem “Marmion.” Change the word “deceive” to “intercede,” and the quote becomes most apropos to describe Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf’s plan to increase the threshold for which...
Colin McNickle: Auction those Pittsburgh property holdings
The City of Pittsburgh should expedite the sale of city-owned property by injecting the marketplace into the process, says a new white paper by the Allegheny Institute for Public Policy. “Property could move more rapidly from the city to the general public though an auction,” says Eric Montarti, research director....
Colin McNickle: The Rivers Casino at 10
Ten years ago the heavily touted Rivers Casino opened on Pittsburgh’s North Shore. But a decade later, its original revenue projections have yet to materialize — even with expanded gambling — and the value of the jobs it has created remains a question mark, concludes an analysis by the Allegheny...
Colin McNickle: Pittsburgh’s anemic labor market
Job growth has slowed significantly in Greater Pittsburgh over the last few months. And while there typically are myriad factors in the job-creation equation, the proverbial “usual suspects” can continue to be tagged for the region’s anemic employment performance, an analysis by the Allegheny Institute for Public Policy finds. “(T)he...
Colin McNickle: An early look at Pa.’s public pension reform
Public employee pension reform now is in full bloom in Pennsylvania. But if the limited data available from the first of two groups is any indication, there hasn’t been any rush by employees — new or old — to embrace defined-contribution plans, suggests an analysis by a researcher at the...
Colin McNickle: Keeping an eye on police regionalization
Cheswick Borough and Springdale Township have joined forces to form Allegheny County’s second regional police force. And if the conclusions of a state study that led to the creation of the Allegheny Valley Regional Police Department come to fruition, it could be an operational and financial win-win for local taxpayers,...
Colin McNickle: Attendance matters to students, schools
The nexus between school attendance and academic performance is well established. In general, the better a student’s attendance is, the better that student’s academic results. And, of course, the better the respective school’s attendance rate and academic results. But an updated analysis of Pittsburgh Public Schools by a scholar at...
Colin McNickle: Can Pa.’s record impact fee receipts be sustained?
Pennsylvania collected the highest total impact fees ever in 2018, fueled in part by a court ruling but paced largely by increased demand for shale gas, concludes a review of state data by the Allegheny Institute for Public Policy. Act 13 of 2012 (with collections retroactive to 2011) instituted the...
Colin McNickle: Troubling comparisons for Pittsburgh
An updated statistical analysis by the Allegheny Institute for Public Policy of how the City of Pittsburgh stacks up against four comparable “benchmark cities” should prompt much, and necessarily robust, discussion among local public policy makers. Since 2004, the Pittsburgh think tank has, every three years, compared the erstwhile Steel...
Colin McNickle: Budget challenges for Port Authority
A number of issues, nagging and expensive, face the Port Authority of Allegheny County in its proposed fiscal 2019-20 budget, says the research director at the Allegheny Institute for Public Policy. “An expiring labor contract and new hires are key drivers of operating expense increases for the mass transit authority,”...
Colin McNickle: The Penn Hills predicament
The Penn Hills School District finds itself in dire financial straits. And it now must execute a state-overseen financial recovery plan. A significant tax increase and layoffs are possible. But had taxpayers been given the direct oversight they deserve, the situation might be different, say two researchers at the Allegheny...
