Deficit To Get Millions Worse In Future, Reading City Council Told

A 1947 topographic map of the Reading, Pennsylvania area. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

City Controller Christian Zale on Monday pressed his case, again, to City Council: Unless the city makes some drastic changes, it’s facing a $35 million cumulative deficit by 2017.

However, those changes can’t include bigger property tax hikes; Zale said his projection already assumes the city raises the property tax by 5 percent in each of the next four years.

But he said the tax increases cut the deficit by only $10 million.  Without them, the deficit rises to $45 million.

“Me being conservative, I tried to be as gloomy as I could,” Zale told council.  “And quite frankly, I don’t want to hear (that) we’ll approach that and try to solve it when that time comes.”

Read more:  http://readingeagle.com/article.aspx?id=479276

Reading Codes Officer’s Residency Was At Issue

Reading codes manager Ron Natale is violating the city charter because he has not moved into the city within the required year of taking office, according to an investigator for the city Charter Board that enforces such rules.

However, despite the investigator’s official findings, which put the case into the board’s hands for a final ruling, a new investigator closed the probe.

And, the Charter Board’s confidentiality rules prevent anyone from explaining why.

Charter Board rulings have led to the firing of prior codes manager Jatinder Khokar and the transfer of Adam Mukerji, former community development director, to the Reading Redevelopment Authority.

Read more:  http://readingeagle.com/article.aspx?id=442291

Reading Mayor Vaughn Spencer Fined For 5 Illegal Hirings

The city Charter Board has fined Mayor Vaughn D. Spencer $1,000 for illegally hiring five assistants not approved by City Council as the charter requires.

Spencer has appealed the fine to Berks County Court, but at the request of attorneys for both sides, President Judge Jeffrey L. Schmehl sealed the ruling and the appeal documents.

The city ordinance governing the Charter Board requires its rulings to be kept confidential until the targets exhaust their appeals.

However, a copy of the board’s ruling was obtained by the Reading Eagle.

Read more:  http://readingeagle.com/article.aspx?id=432492