Mayor Ed Gainey’s final budget proposal is an embarrassing document that confirms the wisdom of the electorate that denied him a second term in office. City Council must not approve it, or anything like it. To do so would be to further damage the city’s financial status, and Pittsburghers’ trust in their government, for years to come.

After years of their poor management, coinciding with the collapse of property tax revenues and the expiration of federal pandemic relief funds, Mr. Gainey and his administration were faced with two choices: raise taxes or impose austerity on city government. They chose a third course: produce a radically unrealistic budget that tries to avoid accepting responsibility for their own mess.

Indeed, the purpose of the budget appears to be to leave Mr. Gainey’s

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