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Expressway, taxes are among priorities

Friday, February 07, 2003

By James O'Toole, Post-Gazette Politics Editor

Gov. Ed Rendell wants you to know this wasn't just another meeting.

"Here, look at this," he demanded, displaying page after page of notes scrawled in red ink in his cramped handwriting.

His jottings, compiled after hours of briefings, questions and debate at the University of Pittsburgh, are interspersed with underlines and exclamations:

"Great idea."

"Idea."

"Idea."

"Check this."

"I've got tons of stuff here that I wouldn't have gotten otherwise," he said, testifying to the value of another of the economic development summits he's been hosting around the state since his election.

Rendell spent nearly five hours in Pitt's student union, listening to, and occasionally lecturing, a group of several hundred local officials, business leaders and academic figures on the economic needs of southwestern Pennsylvania.

He was looking for ideas and support for the ambitious, bond-supported investment program that is a key element of his economic development strategy.

In a morning and afternoon of presentations and comments, he urged his audience to prioritize their wish list for the development dollars that he will ask the Legislature to approve.

He bemoaned the lack of coordination in the state's job training programs. In response to Mayor Tom Murphy's complaints about Pittsburgh's antiquated tax structure, he offered sympathy but no promises of immediate relief for the burden of the city's tax-exempt land.

"This meeting convinced me of the urgency of putting infrastructure dollars in this area as quickly as I can," Rendell said. "If these guys can get to me in the next three months a coordinated wish list, it will inure to their benefit."

Local figures, including Harold Miller of the Pennsylvania Economy League and Allegheny County Chief Executive Jim Roddey, insisted they were up for that challenge.

"I thought his grasp of the issues, his understanding of southwestern Pennsylvania was extraordinary," Roddey said of a man from whom he's about to seek a boatload of development dollars. "He's not relying on aides; he's not turning to anyone. I thought it was pretty remarkable.

"The other thing he got from this is that this is an area that does have its act together," Roddey said. "We are probably ahead of the rest of the state in being able to prioritize without having a lot of debates."

One chief priority among many in the room is the unfinished Mon-Fayette Expressway. Several speakers offered familiar praise of its development potential although none offered any clues on how to meet its multibillion dollar price tag.

"Mon-Fay is so central and we have to find a funding source, and I think we will," Rendell ventured.

There was less apparent unanimity on the prospect of a pioneering magnetic levitation train from Pittsburgh International Airport to the city and beyond.

Rendell, clearly enthusiastic about the potential project, asked for a show of hands of those who would place it at the front rank of priorities for local matching dollars. Murphy and Roddey were among those whose hands remained at their sides.

The Democratic governor and the audience did appear to find agreement on the need to better coordinate the money the state spends on workforce development. Rendell suggested that in that area, in contrast to some other issues discussed, the problem was not a lack of money but the unfocused way it was used.

"We spend $1.2 billion on workforce development and only 5 percent of that is market-driven," Rendell said. Noting that those funds are spread among 47 separate programs administered by five different state departments, he observed, "That's insane."

The day's format included a series of questions and discussion kicked off by reports from task forces on issues ranging from transportation to quality of life. Speaking for the panel on taxation, Barbara McNees, president of the Greater Pittsburgh Chamber of Commerce, noted that one area where the group had failed to reach any consensus was on how to deal with nonprofit agencies.

That issue is at the contentious core of Murphy's recently enacted budget, which seeks to levy a tax on the payrolls of all city employers, profit and nonprofit alike. Like other Pennsylvania municipalities, Pittsburgh's revenues have been squeezed by its inability to tax or exact payments in lieu of taxes from nonprofit agencies, such as schools and hospitals.

The Legislature immunized such agencies from municipal tax efforts in legislation known as Act 55. Rendell, a former mayor, made clear that his Philadelphia administration, like Murphy's, had been pinched by its provisions, but he offered no near term hope of changing them.

"The Legislature has no appetite for revisiting that issue," Rendell said. "Maybe down the road, but not now."

Rendell insisted that he was still "struggling mightily" to craft a budget that will close the state's projected deficit without a major tax increase. While the Democrat wouldn't guarantee that he could accomplish that, he said any chance of doing so rested on major increases in a variety of state fees. He raised the possibility, for example, of emulating New Jersey in imposing a new annual fee on drivers who had accumulated excessive points through traffic violations.

In the face of criticism from some minority groups over a perceived lack of diversity among his Cabinet choices, Rendell also said that at least one African-American would be included in his final three nominees. So far, Rendell has chosen one African-American and one Latino among 15 nominees for the Cabinet.

Last night, at the Mon Valley Progress Council's annual dinner, Rendell reaffirmed his support for the Mon-Fayette Expressway and Southern Beltway toll road projects, vowing that his administration would fast-track construction of the last phases.

Staff writer Joe Grata contributed to this report.