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August 6, 2025

Is Pittsburgh Going Broke? 

City Cast Pittsburgh

Is Pittsburgh Going Broke? 

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Can a city truly go broke? City Controller Rachael Heisler has been sounding the alarm on Pittsburgh’s “unsustainable” budget for months. Too much overtime. No more savings. It’s happened before: In the early 2000s, City Council voted to let the state take over our budget through a process called Act 47, and it took us 15 years to crawl our way out. Are we headed there again? Heisler’s here to talk about what’s gone wrong and what that means for everyone who lives here.

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