Mayor Ed Gainey spent little time discussing the proposed 2025 budget in his more than hour-and-a-half budget speech to the Pittsburgh City Council.

Instead, Gainey, who faces re-election next year, used much of his speech to highlight his accomplishments during his nearly three years in office. He emphasized his administration’s priorities, focusing on issues such as downtown revitalization, the Public Works and Public Safety departments, and infrastructure and transportation investments.

Towards the end of the speech, he said he would build on previous efforts while acknowledging that the city faced a few lean years in the near future.

“Two difficult years will not stop us from continuing our mission to rebuild your government and ensure it serves you,” Gainey said.

The draft 2025 budget includes planned increases in anti-litter inspector positions, implementation of an automatic red light inspection program and continued investments in bridge repair.

The mayor devoted only a small portion of his speech to talking about the city’s expected financial woes over the next two years, a period when funding will be constrained by a spike in debt payments and the end of federal Covid-19 aid. He also said little about questions about the city’s police department, which has long faced staff reductions and the recent sudden departure of police Chief Larry Scirotto.

“Despite the recent retirement of our distinguished former chief, I remain confident in the office,” Gainey said. “I know that under the leadership of Acting Chief Chris Ragland, we will continue to work together and finish the work we started.”

Gainey said he would continue efforts to “civilize” some administrative positions in the bureau, which would free up more officers to work the streets. Since taking office, he has focused on improvements to public safety and violence response. He noted that homicides and fatal shootings were 43% lower than at the same point in 2021, the year before he became mayor.

At the press conference following the speech, Deputy Mayor Jake Pawlak stated that there is currently no money in the budget for another national police search like the one to find Scirotto. Scirotto I resigned at the beginning of the month After initially announcing that he was returning to referee NCAA college basketball in his spare hours.

“The mayor will make the decision regarding the police chief, and he hasn’t made that decision yet,” Pawlak said. “There are no resources in the budget plan as proposed today for a search similar to the one we had last time.”

Pawlak said the budget proposal discussed Tuesday includes some adjustments to revenue estimates. He said these were related to changes to city permit fees. But otherwise, he said, the numbers are largely the same as in Turkey. Preliminary budget draft released in September.

“The essence of the Mayor’s proposal, which is to protect the investments that he has proposed in the last two budgets and to build on the work that we can do under these circumstances, is what you heard the Mayor speak today,” Pawlak said.

Gainey’s speech touted affordable housing initiatives that will be discussed by the Council in the coming months, including a series of zoning changes that would eliminate some barriers to new housing construction while also increasing affordable housing requirements through inclusionary zoning.

Not all council members were willing. City Councilman Bob Charland was particularly unhappy that there was no discussion of “how we’re going to clean up the city or address homelessness in 2025.”

“Mayor Gainey must have thought his campaign announcement wasn’t getting enough attention, because that’s the only reason we hear about initiatives from years ago in his annual budget speech,” Charland said.

Councilwoman Theresa Kail Smith said she looks forward to asking questions during upcoming budget hearings. He deals with public safety and capital projects.

“At this point I’m concerned about all public safety, including the smaller number of emergency services and police, and where we are on fire. “And equipment is always a concern,” he said. He said he hopes to hear more about how the budget represents will benefit the city’s West Side.