We are in a budget crisis right now,” wrote Pittsburgh City Councilwoman Erika Strassburger last Friday in a clear-eyed letter to her Council colleagues, obtained by the Post-Gazette Editorial Board.

As we have described over the past year, the city has been speeding toward this situation at least since the approval of the 2025 budget, if not the 2024 budget. While we wish this letter had been sent last November, its candor marks an important milestone in Council’s recognition of the city’s deteriorating financial situation.

Council should now take the next step, and reject Mayor Ed Gainey’s radically unrealistic budget wholesale. He and his administration should have to fix the problem they created.

The city’s fiscal problems were further highlighted this week in a report from City Con

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