Pittsburgh Mayor Bill Peduto said Wednesday that he is not yet considering employee layoffs as the city’s government revenue dwindles during the coronavirus pandemic.

The city reported revenues since March decreased by 25% when compared to the same time period in 2019. Citing data provided by the Office of Management and Budget, the Mayor’s Office reported the city took in $94.4 million between March and May 8, a decline of about $32 million over the same period last year. Expenses over the same stretch were down by 7%.

The government spent $101.5 million from March through May 8, compared to expenditures totaling $109.3 million in 2019, according to the Mayor’s Office.

Peduto during a telephone interview from his home said the city is enacting a series of cost-cutting moves, but they do not include employee furloughs.

“We will work through a series of different ways in order to be able to restructure revenue, address waste, fraud and abuse and be able to look at a longer term approach to expenses, lowering staffing if possible through attrition instead of mass layoffs,” he said. “That being said, I have ordered all departments to cut 10% of their budgets in non-personnel immediately and we’ll be looking at ways that all departments can lessen the number of employees through attrition in the 2021 budget.”

The mayor also ordered a hiring freeze expected to save $3 million in salaries.

Local government bodies, including Westmoreland County and the Pittsburgh Parking Authority, in recent weeks laid off employees to offset losses caused by the coronavirus pandemic. Pittsburgh in 2003 laid off hundreds of employees to avoid bankruptcy.

Pittsburgh has about 3,300 employees.

“I remember very clearly under the (Mayor Tom) Murphy administration when the city was facing financial insolvency, and one day we came into work and found that several hundred employees were being laid off and recreation centers, senior centers and swimming pools were being closed,” Peduto said. “I don’t want to approach it in that same manner.”

Peduto has said the city is facing a $127 million deficit in 2020 and $239 million in losses over the next five years because of the pandemic. He has lobbied repeatedly for financial aid from the federal government.

Tax revenues most impacted by the economic lockdown include parking, earned income and real estate. The city projects potential losses of $97 million this year from those revenue sources.

Peduto said the city would likely have to dip into a $133 million surplus to get through this year.

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