Charlotte Shields-Rossi | a&e editor

Pittsburgh City Council voted to raise the city property tax by 20% on Dec. 21, and experts say it could affect student renters. 

In the City of Pittsburgh, residents pay taxes in four city-level areas — Pittsburgh Public Schools (10.457 mills), City of Pittsburgh (9.67 mills), Library Tax (.25 mills) and Parks Tax (.5 mills).

Last year, Allegheny County raised property taxes by 36% and this year Pittsburgh Public Schools raised their taxes by 2%.

The proposal will increase the city’s millage from 8.06 mills to 9.67 mills. One mill is the equivalent to one dollar for every $1,000 of assessed property value. A house valued at $100,000 would have paid$806 per year in property taxes prior to the increase. Now, a house at that price will pay$967. 

Nadia Evangelou, senior economist and director of real estate research for the National Association of Realtors, said this might affect students living off campus. 

“Usually, higher taxes pass through the rent over time,” Evangelou said. “Young adults may feel some of this increase indirectly.”

She said that since students need housing near campus, an increase in pricing would not necessarily deter them from renting.  

“Demand is fairly inelastic. They are more likely to adjust by adding roommates, or choosing smaller units,” she said. 

City Council originally proposed a 30% tax increase before compromising to 20%. Comparatively, between 2018 and 2024 national property taxes increased 28%. 

Still, Evangelou said, this could be substantial for Pittsburgh residents.   

“It’s a meaningful rise, especially for long-time homeowners, renters and families whose incomes have not grown as quickly as home prices,” the economist said. “Renters in tight markets and landlords with thin margins tend to feel the impact most.” 

Todd Reidbord is a founding partner and the president of Walnut Capital, a rental company in Pittsburgh. He said that tax increases are not ideal, but poor fiscal management from the previous administration made it necessary. 

“I’m glad the city council took the right move and did the tax increase. We don’t want to see another one, this can’t be a precedent where you do it every year,” Reidbord said. 

Reidbord said that Walnut Capital does not directly charge renters for taxes, but to keep up with inflation they have to raise rent. The company has numerous properties around the Pittsburgh area that house university students.

“We understand students are particularly affected by some of these cost increases,” he said. “Your cost of university keeps going up every year as well. It is something that we all have to work together to get under control.”

“We’re in dire straits right now”

The property tax proposal passed 6-2. Councilwoman Theresa Kail-Smith, D-West End, voted no alongside Councilman Bobby Wilson, D-North Side. 

Kail-Smith, now retired, worked onCity Council for over 16 years. She did not believe that the 20% tax increase was the best solution to fixing the city’s budget. 

“It is not that I disagree that maybe a tax increase would be needed. I just thought we should have tried everything we could to cut where we could, anything that was non-essential before we put that burden on taxpayers,” Kail-Smith said. 

She said that she has received calls from people upset about the proposal passing.

Kail-Smith disagrees with the increase, but does not blame her fellow council members.  

“I think everybody did the best they could in a very crunched time,” she said “But I do think that there was a better option.”

Erika Strassburger, D-Squirrel Hill, was one of the six council people to vote in favor of the proposal. Stassburger has been on City Council for almost eight years and has been the finance and law chair for two years. 

Strassburger said she did not take the decision lightly but decided that this was the best course of action for increasing the city budget. 

“Look, we’re in dire straits right now. We either need to make massive cuts to the tune of $15  to $20 million ,and that involves a cutting of city services or laying people off or cancelling programs or we need major revenue increases,” she said. 

The Squirrel Hill councilwoman said that this will impact renters, especially those in smaller apartments. But she said that renters often get their rent raised by more than 20% for reasons unrelated to the city. 

Strassburger said that overtime homeowners and renters will see positive change come from this increase. 

“The benefit is going to mean, not immediately but eventually, [better] city services and a better quality of living. We can invest in our bridges, our roads, our vehicles to be able to address whatever needs to come up,” she said. 

There is a property tax calculator on the county website. Visit https://realestate.alleghenycounty.us/search for more information.