Nordenburrg Report

==Background==
* http://www.pitt.edu/news/citycouountyreport.pdf
==Insights==
===Proposed:===
* 900 County police patrolling the city formerly known as Pittsburgh.
* 600 County firefighters protecting life and property in the city formerly known as Pittsburgh.
* The residents of the city formerly know as Pittsburgh will pay over and above the present rates on Allegheny County taxes to pay off debt, pension and ongoing operations.
.. and have no representation other than one County Council District in the city (the rest are split between the city and county.
Here is what the Allegheny Conference (republicans) wants to happen to us.
(p. 26 of the report - saving the best for last I suppose)
"The City of Pittsburgh also has significant capital debt
obligations—which, again, were incurred by previous
administrations. The City’s rolling budget forecasts, though, do
provide for full payment of all capital debt obligations, even in
years when balloon payments are required. Just as important,
the City’s current $60 million capital spending plan is funded
through the annual budget and does not require the issuance of
any new debt.
It is not unusual for issues of this type to present challenges
in the context of a possible consolidation of governments. The
approach typically taken is to segregate existing obligations
and to preclude their transfer from one governmental entity to
another. In this regard, as noted above, the creation of an Urban
Services District can be an important step because that District
can “hold” the existing debt and retire it over time by applying
revenues raised for that purpose through the differential tax
structure. Savings effected through consolidation might also be
applied to reduce these legacy cost burdens."
This is, by defination, taxation without representation.