Centre Region Council Of Governments Breaks Down Spending Blueprint For Municipalities

Counties constituting the Happy Valley Region of Pennsylvania (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

STATE COLLEGE, PA — In a unanimous vote, members of the Centre Region Council of Governments agreed to send the 2015 program plan to the municipalities for review and comment.

The 257-page plan is “intended to provide the General Forum with an explanation of each regional program’s history, services, current issues, midyear financial status, and proposed programmatic and financial changes for 2015.”

This is the 13th plan to be created since the program began in 2001.

“It’s a tool to give elected officials an early heads up about what we’re proposing for the new year,” said COG Executive Director Jim Steff. “So instead of giving them a budget in October and say ‘You guys need to vote on this in November,’ they get this information much earlier.

Read more here: http://www.centredaily.com/2014/07/28/4283056/cog-breaks-down-spending-blueprint.html?sp=/99/264/&ihp=1#storylink=cpy

Harrisburg To Get A Record $5 Million For Fire Protection For Capitol Complex

Harrisburg will receive full compensation from the state for providing fire protection and emergency services to the 40 tax-exempt state buildings located in the Capitol complex in the 2013-14 state budget making its way through the General Assembly.

Sen. Rob Teplitz, D-Dauphin County, applauded the funding that he along with state Rep. Patty Kim, D-Harrisburg, and Harrisburg’s city receiver Gen. William Lynch fought to get included in the $28.4 billion spending plan.

Despite that, Teplitz voted against the budget plan, which passed the Senate by a 33-17 vote. Democratic senators lambasted the plan for being too light on education and human service spending.

This amount going to Harrisburg exceeds the $2.5 million that Gov. Tom Corbett had proposed in his budget and what Teplitz called “the abysmal $496,000” in the House-passed budget.

Read more:  http://www.pennlive.com/midstate/index.ssf/2013/06/harrisburg_to_get_a_historic_5.html#incart_maj-story-1