Proposed Operating Budget
$1,250,397,037
4.77% increase from prior year2027 Proposed Operating Budget
What is the operating budget?
The operating budget is the budget allocated for day-to-day County operations and business. It includes funding and expenditures to operate departments, such as the cost of personnel. The 2027 proposed operating budget is $1,250,397,037, which is a 4.77% increase from last year’s adopted operating budget of $1,193,518,154. The Department of Management and Budget prepares the proposed operating budget each year as a component of the comprehensive fiscal plan. The fiscal plan is presented to County Council for review and approval, then the County Executive signs the approved budgets.
For further details on County budgets, view the Comprehensive Fiscal Plans or download the data used in this report.
Revenues
Revenue is income the County estimates to earn that can be used to fund expenditures.
What are the County’s sources of revenue?
County revenue for the operating budget is generated from the following sources:
- Department Earnings and Charges include revenues collected from charges for services provided by the County (e.g., swimming pool fees), fines and forfeitures (e.g.,charges levied by the Court of Common Pleas), and license and permit fees (e.g., hunting license fees). The anticipated revenue from department earnings and charges is $189.23 million, accounting for 15.1% of the total operating revenue budget.
- Federal revenue includes funds received from the federal government. The County expects to receive $56.00 million from the federal government to account for 4.5% of the total operating revenue budget.
- State revenue includes funds received from the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and shared revenues. The County expects to receive $248.07 million from the state government to account for 19.8% of the total operating revenue budget.
- Regional Asset District (RAD) revenue comes from the proceeds of Allegheny County’s additional one percent sales and use tax. One quarter of the total proceeds from RAD are allocated directly to Allegheny County. The anticipated RAD revenue is $30.57 million, accounting for 2.4% of the total operating revenue budget.
- County Taxes include revenues generated from property taxes, sales taxes, vehicle registration fees, and taxes on gaming revenue. The County anticipates collecting $670.31 million in taxes, accounting for 53.6% of the total operating revenue budget.
- Other Revenue Sources includes all other revenue sources not provided for in the above categories and accounts for the remaining 4.5% of the total operating revenue budget.
What is the purpose of each fund?
The County uses funds to designate money for a particular purpose. The funds described below comprise the operating budget.
- General Fund: 87.1% of the County’s financial resources for the operating budget are designated as part of the General Fund. County taxes, state funding sources, and department earnings and charges revenue generate most of the money in the General Fund. The General Fund can be used for any purpose. Operating activities reflected in the General Fund include administrative, planning and service departments, the County’s Court of Common Pleas and the elected County row officers, as well as operations of the Kane Community Living Centers.
- Debt Service Fund: This fund is designated for expenditures related to principal and interest.
- Transportation Support Tax Fund: This fund accounts for revenue received to subsidize Pittsburgh Regional Transit (PRT).
- Liquid Fuel Tax Fund: This fund accounts for revenue received to finance the improvement of roads and bridges.
- Infrastructure Support Fund: The fund accounts for fees and other revenue received to finance the improvement of roads and bridges.
Expenditures
Expenditures are the expenses associated with running departments, programs, or initiatives.
What is the money used for?
The County’s expenditures are categorized by program areas, which represent the general services the County and its departments provide, and expenditure types, which represent the expenses associated with providing those services. For more information about expense types, see Expense Types Expenditures. The program areas are detailed below.
- General Government represents services provided by Administrative Services, Controller, County Council, County Executive, County Manager, County Solicitor, Court Records, Human Resources, Management and Budget, Medical Examiner, Sustainability, and Treasurer. The General Government program area accounts for $102.96 million or 8.2% of all proposed expenditures.
- Public Safety includes services provided by the Public Defender, Jail, Police, Emergency Services, Court of Common Pleas, Sheriff, and District Attorney. The Public Safety program area accounts for $367.12 million or 29.4% of all proposed expenditures.
- Public Works and Facilities includes services provided by Public Works and Facilities Management. The Public Works and Facilities program area accounts for $60.49 million or 4.8% of all proposed expenditures.
- Transportation includes contributions to support services by Pittsburgh Regional Transit and related entities. The Transportation program area accounts for $57.25 million or 4.6% of all proposed expenditures.
- Health and Welfare includes services provided by Health, Human Services, Juvenile Court Placement, Kane Community Living Centers, and Veterans Affairs. The Health and Welfare program area accounts for $494.09 million or 39.5% of all proposed expenditures.
- Culture and Recreation includes services provided by Parks and the Marketing and Special Events divisions of Administrative Services. The Culture and Recreation program area accounts for $33.32 million or 2.7% of all proposed expenditures.
- Education includes expenditures to provide learning opportunities to county residents, including the Community College of Allegheny County (CCAC). The Education program area accounts for $37.70 million or 3% of all proposed expenditures.
- Economic Development represents programs designed to attract new companies to the region. The Economic Development program area accounts for $2.85 million or 0.2% of all proposed expenditures.
- Debt Service reflects scheduled payments for long-term debt, new leases, and subscription-based information technology arrangements. The Debt Service program area accounts for $94.61 million or 7.6% of all proposed expenditures.