Pittsburgh officials weigh lifting Parking Authority residency rule as staffing falls short

Pittsburgh City Council members, Parking Authority officials and city human-resources staff on Jan. 9 discussed chronic staffing shortfalls at the Pittsburgh Parking Authority and a proposal to lift the Authority's long-standing city-residency requirement for employees.

The discussion, held during the council's post-agenda session, centered on recruitment and retention strategies after a 2024 City Controller performance audit found gaps in how the Authority posted openings. Councilman Bobby Wilson said the report and current online searches show enforcement and attendant jobs were not visible to job seekers, and he urged a mix of posting and wage strategies before removing residency requirements.

Why it matters: The Parking Authority provides parking enforcement and manages city garages that contribute revenue to the city and pension funds. Authority leaders told council members they are operating at well under pre-pandemic staffing levels for both meter enforcement and garage attendants, a shortfall they said reduces enforcement coverage of residential permit districts, bus and bike lanes, and street cleaning schedules.

David Onorado, executive director of the Pittsburgh Parking Authority, described the operational impacts: the authority's staffing target for parking enforcement is 44 officers but it currently has 22, and garage-attendant staffing was 53 before 2019 and is about 33 now. "If we just enforce RPP every day, we wouldn't have enough officers to do that," Onorado said, describing daily scheduling trade-offs among residential permit enforcement, meters, bus lanes, bike lanes and garage operations. Onorado also said the board previously placed a resolution to waive the residency requirement on a board agenda but pulled it at the council's request; he said the resolution is slated for the Authority's January board meeting.

City HR staff outlined recruitment tactics the city uses for similar hourly positions. Devin Taliferro, talent acquisition coordinator for the Department of Human Resources and Civil Service, said in recent hiring the city relied heavily on in-person outreach: job fairs, community organizations and workforce-development partners such as PA CareerLink, combined with passive advertising on sites like Indeed. Taliferro said the city's hires in the roughly $18'$26-per-hour range often come through direct community engagement and employee referrals.

Council members questioned whether removing the residency requirement would solve the shortfall and pressed the Authority to improve posting practices. Wilson cited the City Controller's performance audit and told the Authority he and other council members could not find current enforcement postings on major job boards; Onorado said he would correct any posting omissions. Several council members urged trying coordinated recruitment with city HR, workforce partners and neighborhood employment centers before changing residency policy.

Competing options and constraints surfaced in the session. Onorado and members of the Authority said lifting the residency requirement is a non-financial step the board can take without reopening the budget passed in November 2024; Authority leaders said wage increases would require contract negotiations and budget adjustments. Council members raised housing-cost and equity concerns about removing residency rules and pressed whether wage increases or higher parking rates could fund higher pay. The Authority cautioned that most lost revenue since the pandemic stems from reduced garage leases and commuter demand, not solely enforcement levels.

No formal council action was taken at the post-agenda. Onorado said the board has scheduled consideration of lifting the residency requirement for its next meeting; if the board adopts such a change, Onorado said it would take effect immediately per the Authority's governance. Council members and HR staff agreed to explore more coordinated recruitment and referral pathways and to share records of where open positions are posted.

Looking ahead: The Authority's board meeting next week will be the first formal public vote on lifting the residency requirement since the topic returned to the board's agenda. Council members said they expect follow-up reporting from the Authority and from city HR about posting locations, applicant sources, and any joint recruitment efforts.