As Pittsburgh City Council mulls a 30% tax increase, the legislative body is also asking all departments to put together a plan that would reduce spending in an effort to shrink budgetary gaps.

“A realistic analysis of the current budget drafts reveals a $20-30 million shortfall that needs to be addressed in order to align the numbers with our true financial reality,” said a draft of a letter from Council President Dan Lavelle to all department heads. “As we review and deliberate over several options to meet this goal, Council is assessing the viability of an across-the-board, 5% reduction of the spending plan for each department.”

The letter, a draft of which was obtained by the Post-Gazette on Tuesday, asks each department head to put together a proposal that would cut the department’s

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