The Pennsylvania 2015-2016 Budget Impasse may be (technically) over, but it just claimed another victim. From The Bond Buyer:
Standard & Poor’s has discontinued its underlying rating for credit enhancement programs on rated Pennsylvania school districts.
S&P announced the policy change Tuesday afternoon as an additional step to its December withdrawal of ratings based
…
We previously reported on Mayor Eric Papenfuse’s controversial plan to triple the local services tax in the City of Harrisburg (a tax that overwhelmingly affects commuters, not residents). After securing the needed sign-off from the Commonwealth Court in January, Papenfuse’s plan was stalled by City Council as it worked through numerous other changes proposed to…
DEP is in the process of finalizing changes to individual and general permits for municipal storm sewer systems that would result in stringent and costly requirements on municipalities throughout the Commonwealth. I recently co-authored an article for publication in The Legal Intelligencer on these changes, and how municipalities can address them.
DEP’s proposed changes modify…
Harrisburg Mayor Eric Papenfuse announced today that he would seek to raise the Local Services Tax (LST) for workers in Harrisburg from $52 to $156 per year. The move would affect both City residents and the tens of thousands of people that commute into the City every day to go to work. The preliminary revenue…
With relatively little fanfare last year, shortly before he was given an early retirement by the voters, Governor Tom Corbett of Pennsylvania signed into law Act 199, which amends the Commonwealth’s program for distress municipalities known as Act 47.
Act 199 makes numerous changes to municipal recovery in Pennsylvania. While most of the attention has…
From the Patriot News, comes a story that Mayor Eric Papenfuse will be introducing a new 10-year tax abatement program for new residential and commercial construction throughout the City:
Under the proposal, owners of existing residential properties would not pay additional property taxes on any improvements for 10 years, no strings attached. …
The
…
The Patriot News is reporting that the City will be holding a meeting tonight to discuss a possible new LERTA tax-abatement program in the City. LERTA (short for “Local Economic Revitalization Tax Assistance Act”) is a state law that permits local jurisdictions (counties, municipalities and school districts) to offer real estate tax incentives to spur…
It’s no secret that the City of Scanton is facing tough times. Operating under an Act 47 designation of distressed status since 1992, the City faces enormous financial pressures – most notably with respect to its pension obligations. According to the most recent report prepared by the Pennsylvania Public Employee Retirement Commission (based on 2013…
The Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) recently announced that it has charged the City of Harrisburg with violations of various anti-fraud provisions of federal securities laws in connection with the resource recovery facility and other outstanding municipal bonds issued or guaranteed by the City. The City has accepted a settlement of the charges in which…
