Financial Picture Improves For City Schools, York City School District Says

The York City School District’s financial picture has started to stabilize during the past several years, said Richard Snodgrass, the district’s business manager.

That’s due to factors that include additional state money and the district’s attempts to control costs better, he said.

Read more about the district’s response to the recovery-officer change.

At the end of the fiscal year on June 30, the district should have a fund balance of about $6.7 million. That helps provide a cushion, he said, as the money the district gets does not all come in at once.

Read more: http://www.ydr.com/local/ci_28043627/financial-picture-improves-city-schools

Saint Clair Residents Speak Out On Merger, Board Gives Reasoning

SAINT CLAIR, PA — Seven of about 70 borough residents raised their hands in favor of a merger between Saint Clair Area and Pottsville Area school districts at a borough school board meeting Wednesday.

The school board welcomed feedback from borough residents about the possible school merge after a public meeting Monday describing details from the feasibility study.

Many points and questions were brought up by residents, including what would happen to the school if they didn’t merge.

Various school board officials including Jason Bendle, acting superintendent, Michael Holobetz, board president, and Michael O’Pake, board solicitor, explained that the school would eventually be taken over by the state and go into receivership. The school board would still exist, but an assigned recovery officer would have the ultimate say in decisions.

Read more:

http://republicanherald.com/news/saint-clair-residents-speak-out-on-merger-board-gives-reasoning-1.1846958

Broke Shamokin, Pa., Seeks State Crutch That Few Cast Off

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

(Reuters) – Shamokin, Pennsylvania, tucked away in the coal country about 120 miles northwest of Philadelphia, has $800,000 of unpaid bills and can’t get a loan from a bank. It’s so broke, the gas service to city hall was temporarily cut off last month.

So the council for the city of 7,000 residents has agreed to seek entry to a state financial oversight program dating from 1987 that facilitates access to credit and permits the levying of certain taxes. Now, though, some lawmakers say the program is more like a trap than a benefit: municipalities get into it, and few get out.

Just seven of the 27 local governments to enter state oversight under the program, known as Act 47, have ever been released from it. As a result, legislators want to cap how long cities can stay under state oversight and, in the hardest cases, impose a municipal death penalty that amounts to disincorporation and a state takeover. The law was passed in a bid to help Pennsylvania cities battered by the decline of the American steel industry in the 1970s and ’80s.

Read more at http://www.philly.com/philly/news/Broke_Shamokin_Pa_seeks_state_crutch_that_few_cast_off.html#CTx13mYx3Q210qd0.99

Cleaning Up Steve Reed’s Mess: Harrisburg’s Debt Plan Expected To Be Filed Today

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

Cleaning up former Mayor Steve Reed’s mess is going to take more than just a solution to his incinerator debt.

Harrisburg‘s state-appointed Receiver has said he hopes to file sometime today his plan to eliminate the city’s bad debt through the sale of the incinerator and a long-term lease of parking assets.

While the more than $360 million in unpayable debt at the incinerator is the root of why the city is in receivership, whatever plan is put forward has to account for much more than that.

Why?

Read more: http://www.pennlive.com/midstate/index.ssf/2013/08/harrisburg_debt_plan_cleaning.html#incart_m-rpt-2