About This Project

Why This Exists

Municipal budgets are public documents, but they're often published as dense PDFs that are difficult to navigate and analyze. The Pittsburgh Budget Explorer transforms this data into an interactive format, making it easier to:

• Compare revenue and expenditure across multiple years
• Identify trends and patterns in city finances
• Understand where city revenue comes from and how it's spent
• Support data-driven conversations about city priorities

Data Source

All data is sourced from the City of Pittsburgh's official 2026 Operating Budget, a 300+ page document published by the Office of Management and Budget (OMB).

Methodology

Data was extracted from the official budget PDF using a combination of automated table extraction and manual verification. The extracted data is converted to structured formats (CSV and JSON) for use in this application.

Revenue & Expenditure Data

Each line item includes an account code, description, and projected values for fiscal years 2026-2030. Growth percentages are calculated as: (2030 - 2026) / 2026 × 100

Department Data

Department budgets are extracted from the Financial Forecast section of the budget document. Values represent total expenditures (including personnel, services, and supplies) for each organizational unit.

Financial Indicators

Fiscal ratios and reserve fund data come from the Five-Year Financial Forecast. The Fund Balance ratio shows unrestricted fund balance as a percentage of expenditures. The Debt Service ratio shows annual debt payments as a percentage of expenditures.

Special Funds

Each special fund includes metadata (authorizing legislation, purpose), financial data (revenues, expenditures, balances), and staffing information (position titles, FTE counts). Fund descriptions are taken directly from the budget document.

Grants

Grant data includes the awarding organization (funder), amount awarded, amount spent to date, and remaining balance. Some grants also include grant-funded positions with FTE counts and budgets. Grants are linked to their receiving department.

Limitations

Please keep the following in mind when using this tool:

• Projections, not actuals — All figures are budget projections based on assumptions about economic conditions, tax rates, and policy decisions that may change.
• General fund focus — The main revenue and expenditure data represents the general fund operating budget. Capital projects and enterprise funds are tracked separately by the city.
• Special funds subset — Only 19 of the city's special funds are included in this explorer. Additional funds exist but were not included in the budget document's detailed breakdowns.
• Extraction accuracy — While we've made efforts to accurately extract data from the PDF source, some values may contain errors. Always refer to the official budget document for authoritative figures.

About Lemali Consulting

This project was built by Lemali Consulting, a Pittsburgh-based software consultancy specializing in data solutions for nonprofits and local government.

We believe public data should be publicly accessible. If you're interested in similar projects for your organization or municipality, get in touch.