Lancaster County Jobless Rate Dips To 6%

Map of Pennsylvania highlighting Lancaster County (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Lancaster County‘s unemployment rate receded again in March, the state said Monday.

The jobless rate slid to 6.0 percent from February’s 6.2 percent, the fifth consecutive monthly decline.

The new rate is the lowest in Lancaster County since January 2009, when the rate stood at 5.9 percent.

“We still might have the occasional blip here or there, but the rate is heading in the right direction,” said Bill Sholly, an analyst with the state Department of Labor & Industry.

Read more: http://lancasteronline.com/article/local/638749_Lancaster-County-jobless-rate-dips-to-6-.html#ixzz1tm1RlTiK

Hempfield School District Anticipates Tax Hike

Map of Pennsylvania highlighting Lancaster County (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Residents of Hempfield School District are looking at a 2 percent increase in school taxes in the 2012-13 academic year.

Hempfield school board Tuesday unanimously approved the proposed $103 million budget, up from $98 million in 2011-12.

The tax hike would raise the tax millage rate from 18.266 to 18.631, Mary Lynne Kniley, director of finance for the district, said Tuesday evening.

That means the owner of an average home, valued at $146,700, would pay an additional $53.55 in property taxes next year.

Read more: http://lancasteronline.com/article/local/640440_Hempfield-anticipates-tax-hike.html#ixzz1tlzEfyqd

Morning Call’s Sunday Reach Expands

Editor’s note:  Some interesting facts about print media – local and national.

Sunday circulation of The Morning Call, the Lehigh Valley‘s largest news organization, is growing.

Average Sunday circulation for the six-month period ending March 31 was 125,549, up 3 percent compared to the same period a year earlier, according to figures released Tuesday by the Audit Bureau of Circulations, a media industry group. Sunday is the most important day for newspapers since it brings in the bulk of advertising revenue.

Weekday circulation was down 5 percent, to 100,196. The Morning Call attributed the decline to “the impact of the single issue price increase to $1.50” and “repositioning … to grow Sunday and other key advertising days of the week.”

Read more: http://www.mcall.com/business/mc-newspaper-circulation-20120502,0,7656401.story

Reading City Schools Losing Another Administrator

Map of Berks County, Pennsylvania, United States Public School Districts (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Another Reading School District administrator is saying goodbye to the district.

Michelle A. Diekow, assistant business manager, has been hired by the Blue Mountain School District in Schuylkill County as its new business manager.

The news comes in the wake of a mass firing of eight top Reading administrators last week and the resignation of a ninth.  According to an interoffice memo,  Diekow was named the point person for business office issues after the firings.

Read more: http://readingeagle.com/article.aspx?id=383637

Landlords Vent Over Reading’s Quality-Of-Life Program

Reading City Hall on the NRHP since April 13, 1982. At 8th and Washington Streets, Reading, Pennsylvania (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Mayor Vaughn D. Spencer walked into the lion’s den Tuesday night, answering hardball questions hurled by local landlords in the Real Estate Investors Association.

They were angry at the $505 cost of a half-hour codes inspection for a rental property.

They were livid at what they called the Gestapo mentality of city inspectors, and warned that sooner or later some landlord will hurt them because of their attitudes.

But they vented mostly about the quality-of-life program, with its $25-and-more tickets, which began in early 2011.

Read more: http://readingeagle.com/article.aspx?id=383644