Harrisburg Mayoral Race: The Bottom Line On Bankruptcy

Harrisburg mayoral candidate Eric Papenfuse has suggested entering bankruptcy would hand control of the city over to an unelected federal judge, but that’s just not true.

Even in a Chapter 11 bankruptcy for businesses, the judge does not take over operation of the company, notes Widener law professor Juliet Moringiello. In a Chapter 9 filing for municipalities, the powers of the judge are even more limited.

Separating fact from fiction is not always easy as bankruptcy becomes a talking point in the Harrisburg mayoral election.

The Patriot-News has talked to a number of bankruptcy experts, including people involved with the Harrisburg Receiver’s negotiations who spoke on condition of anonymity because they are not authorized to speak on the record about the process.

Read more:  http://www.pennlive.com/midstate/index.ssf/2013/04/harrisburg_mayoral_race_the_bo.html

Nearly 5,000 Pennsylvania State Workers Paid $100,000-Plus

HARRISBURG – Nearly 5,000 Pennsylvania state employees earned at least $100,000 last year, and more than one-third worked for one of the 14 state-owned universities or the system that oversees them, a newspaper reported Monday.

The number of employees with six-figure earnings has more than quadrupled since 2002, when 1,176 people fell into that category, The Patriot-News said in stories posted on its website.

“What you see is pretty much how recession-proof that (state government) sector may be,” said Lonnie Golden, a professor of economics and labor studies at Penn State University‘s Abington campus.

In the newspaper’s analysis of data from the state-government transparency website PennWATCH and the state courts, payouts for severance and unused leave time as well as job-related, non-salary income were counted as part of employees’ earnings.

Read more:  http://readingeagle.com/article.aspx?id=458306

Harrisburg Newspaper To Publish 3 Days A Week

Editor’s note:  According to Wikipedia, in 2011 The Patriot-News averaged over 492,000 readers per week between their print edition and Pennlive.com.  The newspaper was ranked in the top 100 in daily/Sunday circulation (United States) in 2005.

HARRISBURG, PA — The daily newspaper in Pennsylvania’s capital city is switching to a three-days-a-week publication schedule in January, in what it calls an adaptation to the changing world.

John Kirkpatrick, publisher of The Patriot-News of Harrisburg, announced the changes Tuesday in an email to friends of the newspaper.

The email didn’t say which days the paper will be published. It says the change will be accompanied by an expansion of the paper’s around-the-clock news coverage online.

“We are not making this move lightly,” said Kirkpatrick. “We understand how important the daily paper is to a large number of people in our region. However, this is a major step to make sure we are leading, not trailing, in the world of innovation and solutions.”

Read more: http://www.mcall.com/business/mc-patriot-news-20120828,0,7285933.story

Harrisburg Public Works Director Ernie Hoch Quits, Pursues Harassment Complaint Against Mayor Linda Thompson

Recreation of the flag of the city of Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, from common knowledge. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Harrisburg‘s Public Works Director Ernie Hoch filed a harassment claim against Mayor Linda Thompson with the city on March 29. Hoch filed his complaint with Merry-Grace S. Majors, Harrisburg’s Affirmative Action Officer.

He said in the letter: “I am lodging a formal complaint against Mayor Linda Thompson for harassment, threatening my job and causing undue harm to city employees due to her political fight with the controller.”

Hoch resigned this morning to the dismay of various city officials, including City Council President Wanda Williams, who said his resignation will be a blow to the city.

Read more: http://www.pennlive.com/midstate/index.ssf/2012/04/harrisburg_public_works_direct_1.html

Harrisburg Leaders Believe Bankruptcy Is Inevitable For City

Image via Wikipedia

Editor’s note:  How very sad that the capital city of this great Commonwealth has deteriorated to this extent!

The Patriot-News Editorial Board met Thursday with City Controller Dan Miller, Council President Wanda Williams and City Treasurer John Campbell.  Below is an excerpt of the conversation.

Q: Where do things stand in the city now?
Dan Miller: We’re going into bankruptcy.  The question is will we have the assets or won’t we have the assets [when we do].  Just because we adopt a plan, that’s not going to solve the problem.  I think [receiver] David Unkovic knows the same thing.

Wanda Williams: I had an opportunity to talk to Jefferson County, Ala., officials last weekend.  They tried to derive a plan there similar to Unkovic’s, but the people were up in arms and they said no, we are not going to allow you to sell our assets.  What you’re going to do is sell our assets and we’re going to be left with nothing, and we’ve been telling Unkovic that.  Where do you derive the revenue from after you sell all our assets?  Now Jefferson County has filed bankruptcy, and the judge is making that determination.  Their assets are safe for the time being. I see this as a ploy — Gov. Corbett has asked [Unkovic] to come in and do a plan, but in the interim, we’re going to be selling assets and filing for bankruptcy.

 Q: How significant was the city’s general obligation default on March 15?
Miller: I suspect we’re not paying any more debt for the rest of the year. I’m not the decision maker, but if you’re not going to pay it now, you’re not going to pay it anymore.  Unkovic is projecting a $9.5 million deficit.  I’m calculating $15 million.  We’re both acknowledging it’s a big deficit for this year.  Our general debt service is about $11 million a year.  Even if you sell the assets, it’s not going to impact the budget. We’re out of money.

Read more:http://www.pennlive.com/editorials/index.ssf/2012/03/harrisburg_leaders_believe_ban.html