There is a serious chance of Pittsburgh annexing Wilkinsburg...

[gg]

Originally Posted by eschaton

I disagree. Edgewood is still kinda wealthy, but if it went into the city, property taxes would fall considerably, and public school options would be considerably better.

That is a good example. They destroyed the Edgewood School District and now they have to send their children to private schools or home school. Did Edgewood at least keep their elementary in tact? Such a shame that horrible judge did that. Sad. Problem with PPS is you aren’t sure where your kids will go after elementary, correct? Even so, PPS isn’t very good.

[Higherho]

Originally Posted by SteelCityRising

Don't we have something like 130 different municipalities in Allegheny County? That's just insane. So many of these communities shouldn't exist. Pittsburgh should, at the very least, annex Wilkinsburg and Mt. Oliver. One could argue that every other contiguous suburb is doing okay for itself at the moment (perhaps sans Bellevue, which is so broke they are now using the city's fire department for free).

Yea that number sounds right, I think we’re number 2 in the entire state. Luzurene has 76 total and I forget the rest of the eastern side. Our county overall would benefit from it and those little areas when the pot of money and services is all combined.

[eschaton]

Originally Posted by gg

That is a good example. They destroyed the Edgewood School District and now they have to send their children to private schools or home school. Did Edgewood at least keep their elementary in tact? Such a shame that horrible judge did that. Sad. Problem with PPS is you aren’t sure where your kids will go after elementary, correct? Even so, PPS isn’t very good.

I used to have a coworker who lived in Edgewood. Edgewood Elementary still exists, but even when he lived there, it took in a whole lot more than Edgewood (1/4th of Woodland Hills). Woodland Hills has since transformed all of the elementary schools into themed magnet-like schools and transformed Edgewood Elementary into a "STEAM academy." He told me he knew a fair amount of people who sent their kids to the elementary school, but he would read the local newsletter, which covered high school graduations. Virtually no 12th graders in the borough graduated from Woodland Hills.

Regardless, PPS is a clear trade-up from Woodland Hills. Parents would have access to much more well-established magnet schools, and kids would likely be fed to Allderdice for high school, which is still a perfectly acceptable high school.

[gg]

Seems the annexation is dead again, but maybe that is for the best. If Wilkinsburg became part of Pittsburgh with all that potential, it would get more expensive and people might invest there. Maybe even with over 1,000 vacant properties, it is best to leave it be. 1,000+ properties not on the tax books is a tough one, but a super poor pocket needs to be somewhere.

https://www.publicsource.org/wilkins...al-government/

[Higherho]

Originally Posted by gg

Seems the annexation is dead again, but maybe that is for the best. If Wilkinsburg became part of Pittsburgh with all that potential, it would get more expensive and people might invest there. Maybe even with over 1,000 vacant properties, it is best to leave it be. 1,000+ properties not on the tax books is a tough one, but a super poor pocket needs to be somewhere.

https://www.publicsource.org/wilkins...al-government/

The thing is, will a home charter really change things? There is a point where too many small governments cannot make a drastic come back without larger support. Some people just look sort term (and in this case, to keep “power”) instead of looking at the bigger picture and merging into Pittsburgh. So many communities would be better off if they stopped playing this little government game in our county. I wish the state would step in and say something like “we’re limiting the amount of small base governments to X amount” and start merging a lot of places together. I wish them luck but I think they will try merging again (the way the court says it has to be done).

[gg]

Originally Posted by Higherho

The thing is, will a home charter really change things? There is a point where too many small governments cannot make a drastic come back without larger support. Some people just look sort term (and in this case, to keep “power”) instead of looking at the bigger picture and merging into Pittsburgh. So many communities would be better off if they stopped playing this little government game in our county. I wish the state would step in and say something like “we’re limiting the amount of small base governments to X amount” and start merging a lot of places together. I wish them luck but I think they will try merging again (the way the court says it has to be done).

I think it would be great for Wilkinsburg's growth, as it hasn't grown or changed for the positive for decades and decades. I looked at a mid century contemporary there, on line when I was looking to buy an investment property, but the taxes were $12,000 a year! I kid you not and it needed a ton of work. I then realized I won't bother looking at Wilkinsburg again.

If the area wants to progress it will have to merge. If it wants to keep decaying, it stays the same. If I was super poor and renting there, I wouldn't want a merger.

[eschaton]

I don't think there's any question that the tax changes which become possible with a shift to a home-rule charter would be advantageous for property development in Wilkinsburg - provided the municipality has the balls to actually raise local income taxes and cut property taxes.

Wilkinsburg has the highest property taxes in the entire county. While it's "priced in" to some extent, with the depressed property values for houses, when it comes to development this means that every dollar of improvement hurts on taxes many multiples more than it would otherwise.

For example, Pittsburgh's assessed tax rate (city + school district) is 18.31. Wilkinsburg is 38.5. This means that (as an example) if you built a new commercial building which cost $1,000,000, you would pay annual property taxes of $18,310 in Pittsburgh, but over twice that - $38,500 - in Wilkinsburg. Which is a disincentive, all things considered, to building (or even improving) property in Wilkinsburg.

I should note, however, that Wilkinsburg's property tax burden is much, much higher on the school district side. SD millage is only 10.25 for Pittsburgh SD, and 24.50 for Wilkinsburg SD. Most of the tax benefits for the borough would thus accrue via a school district merger alone. I'm actually unsure if becoming a home rule municipality would give increased tax flexibility for Wilkinsburg SD.

[airwave09]

The severe municipal fragmentation of Allegheny county has become a major detriment to the area moving forward into the 21st century. I'm not sure there's an easy answer because unfortunately once your create more government it's almost impossible to get rid of it even if it's well past the period where it might have been useful.