YORK DISPATCH / AP: …Commonwealth Court Judge Bonnie Brigance Leadbetter said raising the rate from 1 percent to 2 percent was a critical component of the debt-strapped state capital’s recovery plan. Someone who earns $50,000 would see a $500 tax increase.
She said courts generally should not intrude into such a legislative task under the separation-of-powers doctrine, but that can be appropriate under “compelling circumstances.”
“Here the council has failed to act to alleviate an emergent fiscal threat to the health, safety and welfare of the citizens and threatened the ability of the city government to function,” Leadbetter wrote. She denied the state’s request that the council allocate $75,000 to pay the salary of Bob Philbin, Mayor Linda Thompson’s director of communications… (more)
