Allegheny County treasurer says modernization efforts will cut costs and improve tax-bill timing

Allegheny County Treasurer (identified in the transcript as Erica Rokey Brussellers) presented the treasurer's 2026 budget to council on Oct. 13, saying the office is pursuing modernization and cost savings while maintaining core services.

"Our mission is to fulfill our duties by providing excellent customer service, efficiently collecting taxes, safeguarding county funds and optimizing investments," the treasurer said. The office reported about $100,000 in bank-fee savings, the elimination of a $150,000 IT-consulting line item and projected $80,000 savings by switching print vendors for tax bills. Overall, the treasurer said the 2026 request is about 2% lower than 2025.

The treasurer described steps to address the late tax-bill mailings that drew complaints last year: improving the software extract that prepares assessment data (reducing a multi-day extract to a matter of hours), automating previously manual steps, and working with a print-mail vendor that committed to a five-day turnaround. The office said historically assessments are delivered to the treasurer between Jan. 9 and Jan. 15, which, combined with printing and mailing lead time, has pushed bill mailings into February in many prior years.

The treasurer's office also administered the county volunteer firefighter tax credit: roughly 1,900 applications this cycle, about 1,500 approved and more than $600,000 in rebates issued (average rebate ~$438). The office plans outreach to unclaimed-property holders and to expand registration and audit work to improve short-term rental collections and other revenues.

Council follow-up requests included a breakdown of contracted services and whether the new print vendor is unionized; the treasurer said she would provide follow-up detail and said the Buchanan Ingersoll contract is for government-relations support and state-level connections related to pension and other matters.