Department of Finance

Mission

The Finance Department provides fiscal leadership for the City focused on long-term financial health while respecting the interests of its residents. It also carries an important responsibility to ensure all entrepreneurs, visionaries, and leaders have the necessary services and city infrastructure to thrive. As the City of Pittsburgh’s primary revenue generator, the Finance Department is committed to excellence in financial management for the City, its residents, and its businesses.

Departmental/Bureau Overview

The Finance Department is responsible for the collection, deposit, and investment of all funds received by the City from any source. The Department bills and collects tax and fee revenue, intergovernmental payments, grant payments, lease payments, and other payments due to the City. The Department also manages tax abatements (including homestead and senior citizen exemptions), tracks tax increments, and performs tax audits designed to help businesses submit returns timely and enforce tax laws. The Department is also the designated tax collector for the Pittsburgh School District and the Carnegie Library. In addition to collections of revenue, the Finance Department performs a number of other functions. This includes the sale of tax delinquent properties through Treasurer’s Sales, sale of City-owned property, tax assessment appeals, and citywide cash management. The Department performs business tax audits and ensures that money owed to the City is collected in a timely manner. The Department also manages City debt through bonds and borrowing and manages the City’s Comprehensive Municipal Pension Trust Fund. To ensure accuracy and transparency the Department also facilitates citywide annual single and pension audits. The Department has five major divisions, each with several sub-sections, led by the Director and Deputy Director.

Administration and Treasury Division - The Director of Finance oversees all departmental functions and policies and is responsible for managing debt functions. The Director also oversees all collections and billing of taxes as City Treasurer and is responsible for communicating and interacting with the City Council. The Director/ City Treasurer units are responsible for managing all administrative functions. The City Treasurer is the designated Treasurer for the Pittsburgh School District, is responsible for tax collections related to the District, and is the responsible agent for the collection and distribution of the Carnegie Library and Parks Tax portion of real estate taxes. The Treasurer oversees the collection of the earned income tax through the City’s contractor, Jordan Tax Services.

Business Intelligence Division - The Business Intelligence Unit (BIU) reports to the Director of Finance. This unit is responsible for all operation improvement projects within the Department as well as citywide organizational processes and performance. This unit manages all requests for proposals originating in the department, manages projects to include major technology updates, and recommends and implements new datasets and open data initiatives. The Business Intelligence Unit is also responsible for managing the credit card programs citywide and all legislation processes required to manage citywide contracts. It is also responsible for creating policies to align with department goals to increase efficiency and productivity. The unit focuses on improvements that will help increase revenue as well as lower operational costs citywide.

Real Estate Division - This unit manages all real estate activity including property tax, city property sales, Treasurer's sales as well as abatement and delinquencies. The Real Estate division is the designated collector for the Pittsburgh School District and Carnegie Library and ensures that the property tax and any delinquencies on accounts are collected for the current year. The Real Estate division manages the entire real estate inventory online for the public to search and apply for properties that are for sale. The division works with property buyers, delinquency collectors, the School District, County Assessor’s Office, the Urban Redevelopment Authority, the Pittsburgh Land Bank, and the Law department to return property to the tax rolls and expedite the sales processes.

Tax Compliance Division - This division houses all compliance and enforcement activities and is the front facing counter that manages tax compliance letters and new business registrations. The tax compliance team is responsible for discovering new businesses, collecting business taxes and fees, performing audits and investigations, and issuing citations to ensure that all money owed is collected and that taxpayers comply with the City ordinance.

Cash Management Division - This unit ensures all collections are processed timely and accurately, and manages all of the City's banking activities. This area includes cashiering, imaging, data entry, investment, insurance and bonds, ACH grants, and all activities related to the City Controller’s daily revenue posting. The division expedites the deposit and/or transfer of revenues to manage the distribution of funds citywide.

2025 Accomplishments

• Implemented changes to the lockbox scanning system to reduce errors and the time it takes to correct them.
• Installed new on-line payment kiosks in Real Estate & Business Tax public areas.
• Added a new on-line option to pay prior year delinquent taxes back to 2018.
• Added a QR code to Real Estate Tax bills as the Finance webpage to improve accessibility.
• Worked with the I&P Print Shop to create Real Estate Tax Bill paper in-house to reduce the cost of ordering through a third party.
• Worked with Vridian as part of a PGH Lab cohort to develop an on-line map of properties available for Treasurer Sale.
• Implemented a new check scanner in Cashiering for Huntington Bank to deposit funds electronically, removing the need to bank in-person.
• Implemented process improvements to the workflow for entering revenue into the ERP system.

The labor agreement for AFSCME 2719 members expires on December 31, 2025. This budget reflects a 0% salary increase for members as conversations continue through Q4. The City anticipates that these numbers will change.

58 - MISCELLANEOUS

52 - PERSONNEL-EMPLOYEE BENEFITS 56 - SUPPLIES 55 - OTHER SERVICES 54 - PROPERTY SERVICES 53 - PROF. & TECHNICAL SERVICES