SCRANTON TIMES-LEADER: The effort to rewrite a quarter-century-old state law governing financially distressed municipalities like Scranton is taking a new turn with a “big tent” task force convening to try to work out a compromise acceptable to municipal and state officials, business and labor and financial lenders…
The recommendations could address a range of issues facing Act 47 municipalities, including ways to exit the program, give unions and employees a larger role in recovery efforts, tie labor arbitration awards to a municipality’s ability to pay for them, establish municipal impact fees on tax-exempt properties and enact a 1 percent optional county sales tax as a revenue generator for cities. Some of these ideas have already surfaced as individual bills.
Having a task force develop comprehensive legislation on a subject as complex as Act 47 will take more time than just dropping bills in the hopper, but the advantage would be having the bills acted on more quickly upon introduction by lawmakers because they have widespread support, said Sen. John Eichelberger, R-30, Hollidaysburg, the task force co-chairman and chairman of the Senate Local Government Committee… (more)
