Colin McNickle Columns category, Page 6
Colin McNickle: How dire the straits at Pittsburgh International?
The coronavirus pandemic and state-ordered restrictions on travel-related industries resulted in massive declines in passenger counts at the nation’s airports during the March-through-June period. “Pittsburgh International Airport (PIT) was no exception,” say Frank Gamrat, executive director of the Allegheny Institute for Public Policy, and Jake Haulk, the president-emeritus of the...
Colin McNickle: Allegheny County’s sick-leave proposal a nonstarter
It is an idea whose time should not come again in local governance, researchers at the Allegheny Institute for Public Policy say: Allegheny County Council has proposed an ordinance, that as in the City of Pittsburgh, would mandate that businesses offer paid sick leave to their employees. “This is a...
Colin McNickle: Common-sense pension reforms still prudent
A large majority of municipal pension plans in Allegheny County are in good shape. But the coronavirus pandemic, which has caused tremendous economic damage, could challenge those plans’ health and deepen the woes of plans already struggling, concludes an analysis by the Allegheny Institute for Public Policy. “With the fiscal...
Colin McNickle: A good time to scuttle ‘prevailing wages’
Government jurisdictions of all sizes find themselves struggling with how to recoup lost tax receipts because of coronavirus pandemic-related shutdowns and restrictions. But there are sound public policy prescriptions to recover from such shortfalls. And poor ones. A researcher at the Allegheny Institute for Public Policy proposes a sound, common-sense...
Colin McNickle: The PASSHE predicament
The beleaguered Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education (PASSHE) has proposed merging six of its 14 schools into three. But an analysis by the Allegheny Institute for Public Policy concludes that would be easier said than done. “Given all the obstacles to any reorganization, the chancellor and the trustees face...
Colin McNickle: Public debt for private entities in pandemic times
What happens when, after tax dollars are dubiously conscripted for the benefit of private entities — and at the expense of the public weal — a pandemic hits? Allegheny County taxpayers might be about to find out, concludes an analysis by the Allegheny Institute for Public Policy. The Pittsburgh-Allegheny County...
Colin McNickle: Allegheny County demolition fee questions abound
It was in April that Allegheny County, under the auspices of Pennsylvania Act 152 of 2016, increased by $15 the fee to record deeds and mortgages. The money is to be used to pay for the demolition of “blighted properties.” Allegheny County’s document-recording fee is now $181.75. Since 2013, when...
Colin McNickle: Shale gas impact fee receipts down; future take a wild card
It was a challenging 2019 for a shale gas industry beset with a glut of product that kept prices low and aging wells as the impact fee distribution numbers for 2020 attest, shows an analysis by the Allegheny Institute for Public Policy. And while those prices remain a wild card...
Colin McNickle: Coronavirus and Pa.’s casinos
It should come as no surprise that Pennsylvania’s casinos have seen a major reduction in overall revenues during the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. After all, the administration of Gov. Tom Wolf deemed them “nonessential” businesses early in the pandemic, forcing them to close in mid-March and all of April and May....
Colin McNickle: Greater Pittsburgh’s ‘halting,’ ‘uneven’ jobs recovery
The Greater Pittsburgh economy was dealt a huge blow by the coronavirus-related lockdown of businesses and citizens. And the latest-available payroll jobs numbers for the Pittsburgh Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA) show a halting and uneven jobs recovery, concludes an analysis by the Allegheny Institute for Public Policy. “The impact will...
Colin McNickle: Allegheny Co.’s law of diminishing educational returns
If graduation criteria for Pennsylvania high school students set to begin with the class of 2022 were in effect today, a large percentage of students in a diverse group of 16 Allegheny County school districts would not meet the basic requirements, concludes an analysis by the Allegheny Institute for Public...
Colin McNickle: American Lung Association’s scientific malpractice
“Disingenuous and misleading.” That’s how a researcher at the Allegheny Institute for Public Policy characterizes the American Lung Association’s continual misrepresentation of air quality in the greater Pittsburgh region. “Why is such a large geographical area being labeled as having poor air quality because of three monitors situated in one...
Colin McNickle: Addressing Pa.’s ‘lasting economic scars’
Pennsylvania’s general fund coffers took a major hit because of the coronavirus pandemic lockdown. But the full scope might not be evident until next year, and state government must take serious steps to facilitate recovery, concludes a new analysis by the Allegheny Institute for Public Policy. “The pandemic of 2020...
Colin McNickle: In pandemic, opportunity for Port Authority
The Port Authority of Allegheny County, its ridership pummeled by the coronavirus-sparked shutdown and future funding streams a question mark, must begin to economize, concludes an analysis by the Allegheny Institute for Public Policy. “Given financial resources will be even more scarce in the new fiscal year, steps must be...
Colin McNickle: Allegheny County’s coronavirus revenue challenge
Allegheny County, its economy hard hit by the coronavirus pandemic and struggling to meet its revenue needs, may have to tap fund reserves and resort to furloughs, concludes a new analysis by the Allegheny Institute for Public Policy. “The economy of Allegheny County has been savaged by the coronavirus and...
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...
