34 Percent Of Pittsburgh Properties Tax Exempt, Mayor Says

PITTSBURGH, PA — More than a third of properties in the city do not pay property taxes. Mayor Ed Gainey wants to know the reason for that.

Gainey on Tuesday issued an executive order directing the city's finance and law departments to to review the status of all tax-exempt property owned by charities to ensure that the special tax-exempt status is appropriate under Pennsylvania law, and if not "to act accordingly."

“The only properties that should not be subject to property taxes are those owned by purely public
charities – places where people who are down on their luck get the services they need, mostly for free," Gainey said. "For example, the new Second Avenue Commons homeless shelter is a huge help to our community, and it is clearly a purely public charity.”

As part of the review, the finance and law departments will examine all of the tax-exempt properties owned by charities in the city. For those properties that are not owned by
institutions of purely public charity, "the city will take appropriate legal action to address the tax-exempt status."

Gainey's order could signal the city is preparing for a confrontation with nonprofit institutions such as UPMC, the University of Pittsburgh, Carnegie Mellon University and Highmark.

A report released last year by the Pittsburgh Budget and Policy Center indicated, for example, that if UPMC were not exempt as a purely public charity, it would pay an estimated $50 million annually in property taxes to the city and the Pittsburgh Public Schools.

Gainey said the impending review will not include any churches or religious institutions.