Council’s drink tax debate continues

The Allegheny County Council and the Allegheny County chief executive are currently undergoing… The Allegheny County Council and the Allegheny County chief executive are currently undergoing debate about the 2008 county budget, which includes the controversial drink tax.

Last week, four County Council Republicans decided to propose legislation that would reopen the 2008 county budget and repeal the recent drink and car-rental tax by March 31.

These four members want to put the $19.9 million, which the county received last week from the state from gambling revenue, toward the budget deficit instead of using the proposed $30 million from the drink tax.

They project that the other $10.1 million should be obtained from the drink tax by the end of March.

Instead, the $19.9 million went toward covering the $42.5 million the county lent to the Pittsburgh International Airport back in the ’90s when it built a new terminal – the Midfield terminal.

According to council member Chuck McCullough, R-Upper St. Clair, in 1999 the county formed the Allegheny County Airport Authority and signed an agreement with them that said the authority would pay back the $42.5 million, plus interest, the county spent at the Pittsburgh International Airport for the terminal.

McCullough, who was county solicitor in 2003, said he briefed Onorato in 2004 that the authority still owed the county money when the chief executive was sworn in.

Now, the state has paid back half of the $42.5 million on behalf of the authority, but the other half remains unpaid.

“The chief executive went and got half of it, about $20 million from gaming revenues that were made for the airport, and what he did was he put that in last year’s budget to cover his deficit,” McCullough said.

McCullough added that under the governing charter for Allegheny County, Onorato is to propose a course of action regarding incoming funds to the council, which then votes – and that never happened.

McCullough is also concerned with when the county is going to get the rest of the $42.5 million back.

“What I want to do is I want to have this money come in, and I want to have a debate as to what we can do with it,” McCullough said.

“Some people think there’s enough money there that we can repeal the drink tax and the car rental tax for a year, and they’re right.”

The four Republicans need a majority of eight votes from the 15 council members to reopen the budget.

“You’re going to have to find four other Democrats out there,” McCullough said.

“Onorato’s like the quarterback of the Democratic party around here. However, I think it’s possible with this issue to get four democrats on our side.”

County Council has its regular meeting tonight at 5 p.m. in the Allegheny County Courthouse where debate will continue.