Community | October 13, 2011 | 5 comments

Pennslyvania State Capital--Harrisburg--goes Bust! Files for Bankruptcy

source: http://www.allheadlinenews.com/articles/90062487?Harrisburg%2C%20Pennsylvania%20...

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Dagum
The city of Harrisburg has filed for municipal bankruptcy and is entering uncharted legal waters. Pennsylvania's capital is mired in more than $300 million of debt related to a botched trash incinerator project.

Pennsylvania’s capitol of Harrisburg has filed for bankruptcy protection as the cash-strapped city government can no longer pay its bills and workers by the fourth quarter.

The City Council voted 4-3 to file for bankruptcy protection Tuesday night and the petition was faxed overnight to the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Harrisburg.

The council’s decision contradicts Mayor Linda Thompson’s financial recovery plan for the city, which is mired in $300 million debt. Under the plan, the state government will fund the city in exchange for an 8 percent property tax increase, outsourcing of city service functions and selling of a trash incinerator project.


Continued at: http://www.allheadlinenews.com/articles/90062487?Harrisburg%2C%20Pennsylvania%20...
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5 comments // Pennslyvania State Capital--Harrisburg--goes Bust! Files for Bankruptcy

  • squarethecircle
    • 0
      squarethecircle  

    • wow, have they drained every pocket so thoroughly that they can now gather the herd through more monetary bondage? This could be the first of many...The State Capital of PA. This is about control and we will see more of it.

    • 8 months ago
  • bike10
  • ACSUS
    • +1
      ACSUS  

    • Sounds less like a need for bankruptcy and more like the need for a debt restructuring along with a TEMPORARY increase in some of the taxes or the tax structure of the city.
      An increase in the gas or sales tax affects the poor much more than the rich, but an increase in property taxes affects the rich while passing over the poor who should contribute something, even if it is only symbolic.
      Possibly the most fair revenue increase would be a percentage collection of whatever a person pays into Social Security on their payroll tax.
      If you pay $2500,00 in payroll SS, then an additional 5% might be deducted and sent to the City Coffers ($125.00).
      Of course, the biggest problem with this type of solution is the term TEMPORARY. It's easy to increase taxes, it's DAMN HARD to remove those increases once the politicians get a taste of the money.
      I don't know if this is a viable solution or not but I would like to see somebody much smarter than me crunch the numbers and see if it can work without being too much of a burden on anybody and fair to everybody.

    • 8 months ago
  • Dagum
    • +1
      Dagum  
    • ACSUS:

      They filed a chapter 9 unfortunately it's a bankruptcy and it's going to the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for at least several months for the bankruptcy Judge to deal with. Public Services will be slashed and local property taxes and sales taxes raised.

    • 8 months ago
  • Dagum
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