Exec. Innamorato Presents County Comprehensive Fiscal Plan for 2026
Published on October 07, 2025
No Millage Increase Requested for 2026; Administration Enacted $15 Million in Cost Savings
PITTSBURGH – This evening, Allegheny County Executive Sara Innamorato presented a proposed 2026 Comprehensive Fiscal Plan for Allegheny County. The proposed overall fiscal plan, which includes an operating budget, grants and special accounts, and capital budget, was $3.0 billion. The proposed operating budget was $1.2 billion, a very modest 1.5 percent increase over the 2025 operating budget. The County Executive did not request a millage increase.
“We have managed our budget exceedingly closely and are focused on finding efficiencies and savings wherever possible,” said County Executive Innamorato. “I’m pleased that we are not requesting a millage increase this year.”
The administration found $15 million in cost savings for next year through a variety of measures:
- Rebidding or renegotiating major county contracts, including contracts for our employee health care, agency nurse contracts, and IT services.
- Conducted a benefits audit to ensure we aren’t covering ineligible spouses or dependents.
- Closing approximately 675 vacant county positions. About 30 of these positions are funded vacant positions, the rest were unfunded.
- Closely managing our agency nurse contracts at the Kane Centers to make sure we aren’t over-scheduling nurse shifts -- while still maintaining quality care.
- Responsibly negotiating our union contracts so we can both recognize our employees and pay them fairly but also maintain cost certainty for the county.
- Renegotiating or eliminating rent for county offices.
- Implementing a new tiered rate health care premium for employees.
There are pressures on expenses, including healthcare costs, tariffs, construction materials and labor costs increasing. However the biggest single driver of increased costs is the unexpected increase in the jail population, which accounts for a $8.7 million increase in the jail budget for 2026.
County Executive Innamorato said: “Homicides year to date are at a record low. Other types of crime are falling as well. We’ve invested in a number of processes and programs through my administration to lower the jail population, but ultimately it is up to the Courts to decide who to send to the jail and a timeline for processing cases. Thankfully, we have great partners at the Courts. With their help we can process people through the criminal justice system in a more appropriate timeline and bring detention practices at ACJ more in line with national best practices.”
The Grants and Special Accounts budget has notably decreased since 2025, due to the end of pandemic-era grants and funding, as well as the recession of some federal funding that was clawed back by the Trump administration. While state and federal budgets are in limbo, the budget makes assumptions about flat funding for state and federal funding that will populate the grants and special accounts budget. The grants and special accounts budget can be amended throughout the year as grant amounts change.
Despite flat revenues, spending pressures, and state and federal uncertainty, the county operating budget still invests in over a billion dollars of critical functions and services. The county budget delivers parks, public safety, senior care, the public defender’s office, economic development, and human services for the 1.2 million residents of Allegheny County.
“At the end of the day, budgets are not just numbers. They are a reflection of our values. They are moral documents. We have an opportunity with our budget to invest in what matters most to the residents of Allegheny County,” concluded County Executive Innamorato.
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