PITTSBURGH -- Pittsburgh will not come off the list of financially distressed cities in Pennsylvania yet.

Dennis Yablonsky, secretary of the state's Department of Community and Economic Development, said Wednesday that Pittsburgh will stay under financial oversight for now with Act 47 -- but he's ordering an amended plan to be written for the city's continuing recovery.

Pittsburgh was declared financially distressed in 2003.

"While Pittsburgh has witnessed considerable progress in stabilizing its financial position, having achieved surpluses in the last three years, future financial projections show a return to a structural imbalance by 2011 without further action," Yablonsky said in a written statement. "This assessment, along with Mayor (Luke) Ravenstahl's request for a guided path out of Act 47, is why I've asked the recovery coordinator to work with city officials and the Intergovernmental Cooperation Authority."

Yablonsky wants the city's new financial recovery plan to address:

• Debt service requirements that exceed 20 percent of the city's operating budget and will not decline until 2018.
• Unfunded pension liability of $467.2 million.
• Other post-employment benefits liabilities that range from $220 million to $320 million.
• Growing retiree health care costs.
• Projected workers' compensation liabilities of $24.7 million by 2012.

Yablonsky said the city had done a good job of cooperating with council members, local businesses, nonprofits and employees -- "most notably, Pittsburgh's first-responders" -- to cut costs and achieve surpluses.

But more work is needed, and exiting Act 47 now "could subject the city to a return to distress status in the near future," Yablonsky said.

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